FISHER 
Presbytery 


BX 

9178 
F5P7 


PRESBYTERY. 

A  SERMON, 


PREACHED  AT 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SYNOD  OF  CINCINNATI, 

IN  THE 

SECOND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 

OXFORD,    OHIO,    OCTOBER    18,    1850, 

BY 

SAMUEL  W.  FISHER. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST  OF  THE  SYNOD. 


CINCINNATI: 

GAZETTE  OFFICE,— WRIGHT,  FERRIS  &  CO.,  PRINTERS. 
1850. 


- 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
&ANTA  BARBARA 


SERMON. 


"  But  speaking  the  truth  in  love,  may  grow  up  into  him  in  all  things, 
which  is  the  head,  even  Christ :  from  whom  the  whole  body  fitly  joined 
together  and  compacted  by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  according 
to  the  effectual  working  in  the  measure  of  e\ery  part,  maketh  increase 
of  the  body  unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love." — Ephesians  iv.  15,  16. 

In  the  human  body,  far  more  strikingly  than  among  the 
brutes,  the  head  occupies  the  chief  seat  of  dignity.  Here 
is  the  wonderful  organism  of  thought;  here  the  source  of 
those  vital  currents  that  traverse  the  entire  system  and 
flow  to  the  extremities.  From  this  comes  forth  the  clear 
view,  the  profound  understanding,  the  energetic  purpose, 
the  vigorous  will.  It  is  this  dome  of  the  ever-thinking 
soul,  that  proclaims  man's  supremacy  above  brute  nature. 
With  this  erect  he  treads  the  earth,  its  acknowledged 
lord.  The  body,  dependent  on,  and  so  subordinate  to, 
this  intelligent  chief,  has  its  own  work  and  its  own  char- 
acteristics. It  is  constructed  of  many  parts,  adapted  to 
diverse  operations,  bearing  various  forms.  It  has  its  limbs 
without,  as  the  executives  of  the  will  of  the  indwelling 
spirit;  while  within,  it  is  furnished  with  that  wonderful 
mechanism,  which,  independently  of  the  volitions,  elabor- 
ates the  blood,  and  diffuses  and  maintains  the  animal 
vitality  through  the  entire  system.  To  this  human  form 
the  apostle  in  our  text  compares  the  Christian  Church. 


. 


Christ  is  the  head,  occupying  the  position  of  highest  dig- 
nity, containing  in  himself  the  fullness  of  that  spiritual 
life  which  flows  in  vital  currents  to  the  extremities  of  the 
Church;  while,  as  the  possessor  of  infallible  wisdom,  he 
presides  over  all  her  movements,  and  as  the  inheritor  of 
all  power,  he  secures  to  her  protection  and  blessing.  The 
Church  itself  is  the  body,  dependent  on  him  for  vital 
communications,  and  wholly  subordinate  to  his  rule.  This 
Church  is  not,  in  form,  distinguished  by  some  single  fea- 
ture. Like  the  body,  it  has  its  trunk  and  limbs.  The 
diversity  of  gifts,  of  offices,  and  operations  which  belong 
to  the  former,  are  employed  by  the  apostles  as  a  fine  illus- 
tration of  the  diverse  offices  and  operations  characteristic 
of  the  latter.  Instead  of  all  being  under  obligation  to 
minister  in  the  same  manner  to  the  edification  of  the 
brethren,  there  is  everywhere  inculcated  a  striking  diver- 
sity both  of  original  gifts  and  ecclesiastical  offices,  which 
are  to  be  exercised  and  filled  for  the  good  of  all.  Some  are 
set  apart  to  this  work,  others  to  that ;  some  minister  at 
tables;  some  rule  with  authority;  some  work  miracles; 
some  preach  the  truth;  some  declare  the  future;  some, 
with  infallible  certainty,  settle  the  foundations  of  the 
Christian  faith,  and  complete  the  canon  of  the  inspired 
word.  "For  the  body  is  not  one  member,  but  many."  "If 
the  whole  body  were  an  eye,  where  were  the  hearing?  If 
the  whole  were  hearing,  where  were  the  smelling?  But 
now  hath  God  set  the  members,  every  one  of  them,  in  the 
body  as  it  hath  pleased  him.  Now,  ye  are  the  body  of 
Christ,  and  members  in  particular.  And  God  hath  set 
some  in  the  Church:  first,  apostles;  secondly,  prophets; 
thirdly,  teachers;  after  that,  miracles;  then  gifts  of  heal- 
ing, helps,  governments,  diversities  of  tongues.  Are  all 


5 

apostles?  Are  all  prophets  ?  Are  all  teachers?  Are  all 
workers  of  miracles?  Have  all  the  gifts  of  healing?  Do 
all  speak  with  tongues  ?  Do  all  interpret?" 

The  Church,  thus  impressively  placed  before  us,  was 
not,  like  a  prairie,  a  dead,  monotonous  level,  unbroken  by 
hill  and  vale,  unvariegated  by  lofty  mountains  and  far- 
sounding  cataract ;  nor  was  it  like  a  village  built  thereon, 
in  which  every  house  bore  the  same  outward  form,  was 
limited  to  precisely  the  same  dimensions,  in  which  no 
parthenon  lifted  itself  above  humbler  dwellings,  and  no 
vast  temple,  or  palace,  stood  forth  in  singular  majesty. 
It  is  not  a  Church  of  a  single  office,  a  membership  undis- 
tinguished by  orders,  governors,  and  diversities  of  offices. 
It  is  indeed  a  Church  in  its  outward  form,  fitted  to  the 
undeveloped  and  elementary  state  of  youth;  furnished 
with  some  gifts  and  offices  that  either  ceased  by  necessity 
with  the  death  of  their  possessors,  or  ceased  from  the  pass- 
ing away  of  the  emergency  which  gave  them  existence. 
It  possessed  officers,  who,  by  the  very  nature  of  their 
office,  were  incapacitated  from  having  successors.  It  had 
its  apostles,  its  prophets,  its  miracle  workers ;  a  mighty 
enginery  through  which  the  divine  energy  wrought  out  the 
establishment  of  Christianity  in  ways  the  most  splendid, 
and  manifestly  supernatural;  and  at  length  brought  forth 
that  greatest  miracle  on  which  the  eyes  of  all  coming  gen- 
erations might  rest,  even  the  New  Testament  Scriptures 
— an  enginery,  however,  too  cumbersome  for  Christianity 
when  once  established,  and  destined,  with  all  its  magnifi- 
cence, to  take  its  place  beside  the  splendid  ritual  of  the 
economy  of  Moses.  Just  as  that  Moses,  a  single,  mighty 
mind,  a  general  of  despotic  power,  was  essential  to  the 
establishment  of  that  tabernacle  and  priestly  service,  that 


6 

dispensation  which  was  to  educate  the  people  of  God  till 
Shiloh  came ;  so  was  the  apostolic  hierarchy,  and  the  out- 
flaming  splendor  of  miracles,  essential  to  the  establish- 
ment of  Christianity.  And  just  as  that  despotism  fell  to 
the  ground,  when  the  exigency  that  had  created  it  passed 
away,  leaving  to  Israel  a  government  of  simple  republican- 
ism, so  did  the  apostles,  and  prophets^  and  workers  of 
miracles  retire  from  the  stage  forever,  When  the  necessity 
which  gave  them  to  the  Church  had  ceased.  They  who 
saw  Christ  on  earth  ;  they  who  penetrated  into  the  future 
and  brought  forth  its  mysteries ;  they  who  spake  with 
tongues  and  suspended  the  laws  of  nature,  that  through 
them  divine  wisdom  might  gather  about  the  cross  the  con- 
victions of  the  world,  left  for  future  generations  their 
testimony  embalmed  in  the  word  of  God.  Their  extraor- 
dinary mission  ended.,  the  Church  is  committed  to  this 
inspired  volume  for  her  guidance  and  defense;  while 
through  the  offices  and  gifts  that  remain  to  her,  she  seeks 
to  train  the  world  for  heaVen. 

It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  text,  that  each  part  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  has  its  own  appropriate  Work,  in  the 
performance  of  which  not  only  itself,  but  the  Whole  body 
is  vitally  and  happily  affected.  This  work  is  not  here 
divided  off  and  distinguished.  In  other  parts  of  Scrip- 
ture, the  leading  offices  and  departments  of  labor  are 
marked  out;  but  in  the  main  it  is  left  to  the  members  of  the 
household  of  faith,  in  the  exercise  of  an  intelligent  piety, 
to  discern  and  perform  that  which  belongs  to  them  indi- 
vidually and  collectively.  It  is  not  proposed  in  this  dis- 
course to  enumerate  the  various  duties  that  rise  out  of 
the  relation  of  Christians  to  each  other,  and  the  world. 
I  wish  rather  to  limit  the  discussion  to  those  more  promi* 


7 

nent  works  and  offices  which  give  form  to  the  Church 
before  the  world — 'the  outward  machinery  through  which 
her  power  manifests  itself  in  the  view  of  men.  In  doing 
this,  you  will  permit  ma  to  reverse  the  usual  process,  and 
instead  of  proceeding  from  results  back  to  causes,  to  ad- 
vance from  causes  to  results.  Let  us  seek  to  determine, 
from  the  known  principles  of  man's  nature  and  the  truth 
of  God,  what  will  be  a  truly  spiritual  and  healthy  devel- 
opment of  the  body  of  Christ;  what  will  be  the  various 
offices  and  operations  essential  to  its  most  perfect  form  in 
the  ordinary  state  of  Christianity;  let  us  descend  to  its 
original  elements,  and,  keeping  in  our  view  the  mixed  and 
imperfect  nature  to  be  moulded,  and  the  character  of  the 
truth  through  which  that  nature  is  to  be  changed  into  the 
fullness  of  the  divine  image,  let  us  proceed  thence  to  trace 
out  its  unfolding  according  to  the  condition  and  necessi- 
ties of  a  life  on  earth. 

The  word  "Church"  is  originally  a  term  which,  as 
Hooker  well  observes,  "art  hath  devised,  thereby  to  sever 
and  distinguish  that  society  of  men  which  professeth 
the  true  religion,  from  the  rest  which  profess  it  not.'* 
The  "ecclesia"  *  of  Scripture  points  to  the  assemblage  of 
those  whom  God  hath  elected  out  of  the  world,  to  be  his 
disciples.  When,  then,  a  number  of  such  persons  are 
found  together,  as  either  are,  or  suppose  they  are  renewed 
by  the  grace  of  God,  and  receive  the  Saviour  as  their  re- 
deemer, and  the  word  of  God  as  their  infallible  rule  of 
lire,  their  first  want  will  be  some  outward  union,  enabling 
them  to  enjoy  the  means  of  grace,  and  the  ordinances  of 

*  "  Ecclesia,"  or  Church,  the  elect,  the  called  out  of,  the  sepa* 
rate. 


the  Gospel,  the  materials  for  individual  improvement,  such 
as  mere  isolation  never  can  bestow.  Christianity,  indeed? 
while  it  is  individual  and  personal  in  its  commencement, 
yet  is  social  and  general  in  the  sympathies  and  tenden- 
cies it  creates ;  while  in  its  origin  it  begins  in  the  single 
heart,  shut  up  to  itself  and  God,  yet  in  its  progress  it 
creates  an  expansive  affection  that,  like  the  sunlight, 
seeks  objects  on  which  to  pour  itself,  and  around  which  it 
may  shed  the  fullness  of  its  own  joy;  so  that  he  who 
yesterday  felt  isolated  from  the  world,  a  guilty  sinner, 
stricken  by  the  arrow  of  justice,  and  flying  from  the  sight 
of  men  to  the  solitude  of  his  chamber,  or  to  the  recesses 
of  the  forest ;  to-day  a  penitent  believer,  pants  for  the 
communion  of  saints,  the  comfort  of  their  sympathy,  the 
joy  of  their  affection,  the  instruction  of  their  experience, 
the  quickening  influence  of  their  prayers,  and  the  exalta- 
tion and  guidance  of  their  public  worship.  By  a  law  of 
sympathy  and  affection  and  interest,  as  true,  as  certain  as 
that  which  urges  the  drops  trickling  from  the  mountain 
sides  to  unite  in  rivulets,  and  from  rivulets  to  form  rivers, 
do  individual  Christians  flow  together  into  Christian  assem- 
blies for  mutual  edification,  and  the  more  rapid  increase  and 
perfection  of  the  body  of  Christ.  There  is  a  law  of  Christian 
union  and  unity  which  springs  into  existence  cotemporane- 
ously  with  the  birth  of  a  soul  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
instantly  begins  to  attract  together  the  scattered  mem- 
bers of  the  visible  Church.  The  outward  necessity  of 
combining  to  maintain  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel,  and 
promote  the  advancement  of  religion  among  men,  is  based 
upon  a  secret  law  of  affection  and  sympathy,  which  thus 
admirably  secures  spiritual  harmony  and  unity  long  before 
the  mere  necessities  of  the  Christian  life  have  originated 


If 


a  visible  and  formal  organization.      "Behold  how  these 
° 

Christians  love  one  another,"  antedates  the  form  and 
regimen  of  the  visible  Church,  and  insures  their  existence. 
This  primary  assembly,  without  organization,  without  gov- 
ernment, holds  the  elements  of  a  Church  of  Christ.  It  is 
not,  indeed,  a  perfectly  formed  Church)  fitted  for  the  most 
successful  action;  but  it  is  the  beginning  of  such  a  Church. 
The  company  of  believers  who  thus  assemble  to  worship 
God,  and  administer  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel,  and 
assist  each  other  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  Christ  among 
men,  although  they  have  not  attained  the  form  of  a  well- 
developed  and  fitly-organized  Christian  Church,  are  yet  a 
portion  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  the  materials  of  such 
a  Church  gathered  together  for"  a  healthful  adjustment. 

•One  of  the  first  wants  felt  "by  such  an  assemblage,  will 
be  the  terms  of  communion.  For  as  truth,  doctrine,  prin- 
ciples are  ultimately  the  source  of  feeling,  and  so  of  har- 
mony, it  must  first  be  determined  what  truths  these 
individuals  recognize  as  the  platform  on  which  they  shall 
all  stand.  As  the  object  of  such  a  union  is  Christian 
communion,  Christian  worship,  Christian  ordinances,  and 
the  advancement  of  Christian  interests,  it  must  first  be 
settled  what  this  communion  and  worship,  these  ordinances 
and  interests  involve  as  essential.  Hence,  from  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  human  mind,  from  a  necessity  inherent  in 
the  organization  of  a  Church  of  Christ,  from  the  necessity 
of  distinguishing  it  from  the  Church  of  the  devil,*  and 
for  the  mutual  understanding  and  communion  of  its  mem- 
bers, the  creed,  or  the  expression  of  that  which  forms  the 

bond  of  such  union,  arises.      We  freely  admit  and  rest 



*  Rev,  ii-  9. 


10 

upon  the  opinion,  that  the  word  of  God  is  the  only  infalli- 
ble rale  of  faith  and  practice,  the  ultimate  standard  and 
final  test  of  all  doctrines  that  affect  the  salvation  of  men. 
Bat  when  it  is  said  the  Bible,  and  that  alone,  is  our  creed, 
we  wish  to  know  what,  in  your  opinion,  that  book  teaches. 
If  it  contained  merely  a  collection  of  abstract,  colorless, 
passionless  propositions;  a  series  of  axioms,  of  lines  and 
angles,  about  which,  there  could  be  no  mistake,  and  of 
which  there  could  be  no  perversion  and  misrepresentation, 
then  for  one  man  to  profess  to  receive  it,  would  be  as 
plain  to  another  as  the  professed  reception  of  the  axioms 
of  geometry.     Instead  of  this,  the  Bible  is  addressed  to 
the  whole  man,  not  merely  to  his  reason  and  intuitive 
perceptions,  but  through  them  to  his  affections,  his  hopes, 
and  his  fears.     Yea,  it  rises  far  above  reason,  and  brings 
forth  the  openings  of  deep  mysteries,  the  beginnings  of 
vast  truths,  to  us  visible  only  in  part,  while  the  rest 
stretches  far  away  into  the  profoundness  of  the  being  and 
eternity  of  God.     It  staggers  reason  by  its  amazing  com- 
manications;  it  appeals  to  faith  to  bear  up  the  burden  of 
its  lofty  teachings;  it  crosses  the  earthly  passions  at  the 
very  outset  of  its  announcements;  it  overrides  all  human 
authority,  probtrates  all  human  dignity,  and  seeks  not  to 
save  a  man  till  it  has  convinced  him  that  he  is  lost;  or  to  ex- 
alt him  to  riches  and  purity,  till  it  has  made  him  poor  and 
vile,  and  utterly  without  strength.    Such  a  Bible  as  this,  in 
such  a  world  as  this,  uttering  itself  in  figures,  in  allegories, 
in  all  the  forms  of  human  language,  moulded  by  all  the  dif- 
ferent povrers  of  the  intellect  and  the  heart,  becomes  itself  a 
discipline  to  the  mind  of  the  world,  and  its  partial  or  full  re- 
ception  by  the  intellect  and  affections,  as  much  a  matter  of 
{rial  as  the  exercise  of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  with  which  it 


11 

ultimately  unites.  It  is  a  book  whose  teachings  may  be 
Wrested,  by  those  who  are  so  purposed,  to  their  own  des- 
truction; it  is  a  book  that  wickedness  may  distort,  and 
prejudice  pervert.  They  have  thus  wrested  it  in  every 
age.  In  proportion  to  its  excellence;  its  adaptation  to  the 
human  mind;  its  glory,  transcendant  above  all  other  writ- 
ings; its  variety  and  condensation,  and  directness,  and 
superhuman  power,  is  its  capability  of  perversion  and  mis- 
interpretation by  men  of  an  evil  spirit.  To  make,  there- 
fore, a  professed  reception  of  the  Bible,  the  term  of 
•communion,  is  to  leave  the  door  open  for  the  widest  and 
wildest  extremes  of  opinion;  it  would  throw  the  vital  bond 
of  a  Christian  Church  around  those  whose  views,  and 
sympathies,  and  feelings  on  the  most  fundamental  of  all 
questions,  as  experience  has  long  since  demonstrated, 
might  be  in  direct  opposition ;  it  would  sweep  together 
Hume  and  Wilberforce,  Priestly  and  Payson,  Pelagius  and 
Augustine,  Luther  and  Gregory,  a  heterogeneous  mass  of 
elements  too  hard  to  be  moulded,  too  active  to  be  re- 
strained, too  discordant  for  harmonious  development  or 
efficient  co-operation. 

If  now  the  attempt  should  be  made  to  avoid  this  diffi- 
culty, b}'  recognizing  only  such  as  truly  and  fully  received 
the  Bible  according  to  the  most  common-sense  interpreta- 
tion, yet  this  very  attempt  must  be  preceded  by  a  settle- 
ment of  the  question:  What  is  this  common-sense  in- 
terpretation ?  What  does  this  book  teach?  In  other  words, 
by  the  formation  of  a  creed.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
Christian  experience  be  constituted  the  term  of  Christian 
fellowship,  yet  the  same  difficulty  meets  us  at  the  thresh- 
hold;  what  constitutes  Christian  experience?  What  are  its 
<elements?  By  what  is  it  measured,  and  how  shall  it  be 


12 

tested?  But  this  is  to  form  a  creed.  Besides,  Christian 
experience  is  but  the  counterpart  of  Christian  doctrine ;  it 
is  doctrine  incarnated,  living,  acting.  The  heart  is  moulded 
by  the  truth.  The  views  entertained  by  the  subject  of  a 
Christian,  or  a  purely  worldly  experience,  will  stamp  them- 
selves upon  that  experience.  As  the  parent  prints  the 
lineaments  of  his  face  upon  his  offspring,  so  will  they  upon 
their  offspring.  What  is  thought  of  God,  and  Christ,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost — of  sin  and  atonement,  of  justification, 
and  works,  and  faith,  and  prayer,  will  as  surely  be  revealed 
in  the  experience,  as  the  character  of  the  mould  is  de- 
clared by  the  casting.  In  these  vital  questions,  God  hath 
bound  the  intellect  and  the  heart  so  closely  together,  that 
all  who  are  born  into  his  kingdom,  are  said  to  have  been 
born  again  by  the  truth.  The  word  occupies  no  subor- 
dinate position  in  the  origin  of  the  Christian  life,  and  all  true 
experience  in  a  believer  is,  necessarily,  the  feeling  which 
that  truth,  when  received,  has  wrought  in  the  soul.  It 
follows,  therefore,  that,  in  order  to  the  perfect  organization 
of  a  Christian  Church,  the  terms  of  communion,  involving 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Gospel  received  into 
the  intellect,  and,  as  far  as  man  can  judge,  into  the  heart, 
will  first  be  settled.  And  be  the  expression  of  this  longer 
or  shorter,  written  or  understood,  it  will  constitute  a  cree d, 
or  confession  of  their  faith.  * 

.This  congregation  of  believers  have  now  attained  the 
terms  of  communion.  But  meeting  in  mass,  they  are 
without  officers,  without  an  executive  or  administrative 
organization.  They  have,  as  yet,  no  government.  They 
are  all  equal  in  right,  in  privilege,  in  obligation.  They 
are  agreed  as  to  what  they  believe;  but  not  as  to  what 


*  Rom.  xvi.  17.    Gal.  i.  7.    Matt.  xxiv.  4,  5. 


13 

they  will  do;  nor  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they  shall 
seek  to  realize  the  purposes  for  which  they  assemble. 
TJhey  have  only  determined  w ho  shall  be  permitted  to  be- 
long to  their  communion;  how  that  communion  will  best 
be  preserved  and  promoted,  is  yet  unsettled.     No  sooner 
do  they  meet  for  worship,  than  difficulties  arise,  wants 
reveal  themselves.     Are  all  to  pray?    Can  all  teach?  Are 
all  obligated  to  administer  the  ordinances?     Such  an  as- 
sembly is  a  mob,  without  "decency,"  and  without  "order." 
It  is  found  essential  to  their  edification,  to  appoint  officers ; 
to  set  apart  some  to  special  duties,  clothe  them  with  spe- 
cial privileges  and  powers;  in  short,  to  organize  a  govern- 
ment, and  frame  the  regimen  of  public  worship.     In  doing 
this,  it  is  found  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  that  some  one 
should  be  set  apart  to  lead  in  the  devotions  of  the  assembly, 
and  stand  responsible  for  its  order  and  wise  conduct.     It 
is  necessary  that  some  one  should  administer  the  sacra- 
ments in  an  orderly  and  impressive  manner;  that  there 
should  be  some  one,  of  sufficient  wisdom  and  knowledge 
of  the  word,  to  visit  the  sick  and  the  dying,  and  exercise 
a  care  for  all  the  congregation.     The  Bible  being  such  a 
book  as  it  is,  so  full,  so  rich,  so  various,  written  originally 
in  other,  and  those  dead  languages,  in  another  land,  colored 
by  customs,  and  manners,  and  scenes  foreign  to  most  of 
the  world,  and  replete  with  profound  doctrines,  remote 
from  the  popular  apprehension:  the  mind  of  man  being 
what  it  is,  so  easily  blinded  to  the  truth;  and  the  life  of 
man  being  so  full  of  care  and  business  of  time,  render- 
ing it  needful  that  clear  and  stirring  views  of  truth  should 
often  be  presented  to  it;  and  more  than  all,  the  world  being 
indifferent  or  hostile,  and  demanding  that  the  principles 
of  the  Gospel  should  be  clearly  unfolded,  proved,  defended 


14 

against  objections,  and  urged  home  upon  the  souls  of  men, 
to  win  them  to  Christ;  these  things  being  so,  it  is  found 
necessary  that  some  one  should  be  set  apart  to  the  special 
work  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  of  defending  its  doctrines, 
and  presenting  its  various  truths  according  to  the  wants 
and  circumstances  of  the  congregation.  As  these  duties 
are  of  the  most  difficult  character,  as  they  demand  study 
and  time,  and  learning,  tasking  the  highest  powers  of  the 
intellect,  so  a  person  must  be  selected,  best  qualified  for 
such  a  work,  by  the  ripeness  of  his  mental  powers,  and 
especially  by  that  spiritual  discipline,  through  which  the 
grace  of  God  most  manifestly  sets  men  apart  for  these 
high  duties.  As  the  position  is  one  of  great  responsibil- 
ity, so  it  should  be  clothed  with  great  dignity;  as  it  is  one 
of  continued  labor,  of  the  incessant  devotion  of  all  the 
powers  of  the  man,  to  the  spiritual  interests  and  eternal 
well-being  of  the  Church  and  world,  so  its  incumbent,  lifted 
above  all  anxiety  about  temporal  wants,  should  be  upheld 
by  an  ample  and  generous  support.  Hence  springs  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation  and  edification.  It  belongs  to 
the  fallen  and  impure  state  of  man,  and  the  imperfect 
condition  of  the  Church.  It  rises  naturally  out  of  those 
very  necessities  which  originally  constrained  the  union  of 
the  people  of  God  in  religious  assemblies.  In  the  form  in 
which  it  now  exists,  it  is  peculiar  to  Christianity.  Neither 
Paganism,  Judaism  nor  Mohamedanism  brought  forth  the 
simple  and  original  idea  of  a  Christian  ministry — a  min- 
istry, "not  appointed  like  the  priests  of  Pagan  antiquity, 
for  the  performance  of  ceremonies,  but  for  the  inculcation 
of  truth;  not  to  conduct  the  pomp  of  lustrations  and 
sacrifices,  but  to  watch  for  souls,  as  they  that  must  give 
account"  It  arises  out  of  the  simple  structure  of  Christ- 


15 

ianity  itself,  seeking  by  the  power  of  truth,  to  impress  the 
reason,  quicken  the  conscience,  and  purify  the  heart;  out 
of  the  divine  purpose  to  bring  religion  home  to  the  bosoms 
of  men,  through  the  frequent  unfolding  of  the  truth  by 
human  lips,  rather  than  by  an  impressive  and  a  formal 
ceremonial.  The  design  of  God,  and  the  intent  of  the 
Saviour  thus  harmonize  with  our  necessities.  The  same 
causes  which  impel  a  Christian  people  to  unite  at  all,  will 
oblige  them  to  go  farther,  to  institute  and  maintain  for 
the  more  perfect  accomplishment  of  all  the  great  objects 
of  their  association,  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel.* 

Having  thus  elected  and  set  apart  one  to  act  as  their 
minister,  pastor,  or  bishop,  they  have  next  to  determine 
the  order  of  public  worship.  In  doing  this,  they  would 
naturally  be  guided  by  three  principles.  They  will  seek  a 
style  of  worship  in  harmony  with  the  simplicity  of  the 
Christian  dispensation — best  adapted  to  promote  the  pur- 
est spirituality,  and  bring  the  heart  most  directly  into 
contact  with  God — and  one  that  will  most  fully  meet  the 
varying  wants  of  a  congregation. 

First,  it  will  be  their  aim  to  arrange  their  worship  in 
harmony  with  the  simplicity  of  Christianity.  The  age  of 
rites,  and  types,  and  impressive  ceremonial,  was  closed  by 
the  advent  of  Christ.  The  temple,  with  its  elaborate  ?r- 
rangements  and  successive  passages  of  deepening  solem- 
nity, from  the  court  of  the  Gentiles  to  the  holiest  of 
holies ;  the  altar,  with  its  round  of  sacrifices,  its  lustra- 
tions, and  incense,  and  blood;  the  priests,  with  their 
distinctive  and  gorgeous  vestments ;  and  the  Levites,  with 
their  various  service,  all  passed  away  when  He  appeared. 

*    Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20.       Acts  xx.  28.       Jer.  iii.  15.      1  Pet.  v.  3, 
4.     1  Cor.  iv.  1.    2  Cor.  iii.  6. 


16 

There  was  a  propriety  in  this  splendid  and  diversified  re- 
gimen of  God's  house,  at  the  time  of  its  institution.  The 
holding  up  on  high  the  mighty  fact  of  atonement  by 
blood,  as  yet  revealed  only  in  prophesy,  and,  therefore,  easy 
to  be  misapprehended  and  lost  j  the  gathering  together  of 
Israel  around  the  altar,  for  the  express  purpose  of  isolating 
them  from  all  other  nations,  as.  the  matrix  in  which  the 
Christian  Church  was  to  be  formed  for  its  glorious  birth — 
these  are  considerations  that  obviously  justify  the  ecclesi- 
astical constitution  of  Moses.  But  when  Jesus  came, 
these  reasons  existed  no  longer.  The  cross  was  planted, 
the  gospel  written,  and  the  truth  of  redemption  was  set 
up  in  history,  amid  the  most  stupendous  transactions  of 
human  and  divine  power,  where  the  world  could  not  help 
see  it  through  all  future  time.  That  which  rites  and  types 
once  taught,  now  was  proclaimed  by  apostles  and  ministers, 
and  unfolded  in  the  New  Testament;  no  longer  isolated 
in  Judea,  it  was  prepared  and  destined  to  speak  to  the 
heart  of  universal  man.  That  whickonce  bore  the  stamp 
of  a  divinely  impressed  propriety,  in  this  new  and  simple 
dispensation,  where  circumcision  availeth  nothing,  and 
Moses  gives  place  to  Jesus,  bears  upon  its  front  the  im- 
press of  an  obvious  impropriety — as  a  reversal  of  the 
intent  of  God — an  attempt  to  cast  the  swathing  bands  of 
infancy  around  the  expanding  form  of  youth,  and  dwarf 
the  stature  of  the  soul  into  the  diminutiveness,  of  a  per- 
petual childhood. 

In  harmony  with  this  sweeping  away  of  the  old,  the 
formal,  the  typical,  the  ritual,  the  intricate,  the  outwardly 
splendid ;  in  harmony  with  the  rent  veil,  and  the  openness 
of  the  divine  revelation,  and  the  directness  of  its  appeals, 
and  the  entire  simplicity  of  the  new  dispensation,  this 


17 

congregation  of  believers  will  have  as  little  of  art  and  form 
about  their  worship  as  is  consistent  with  a  just  order,  va- 
riety, and  uniformity.  The  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  the 
reading  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  the  offering  of  prayer,  and 
the  singing  of  psalms  and  hymns,  constituting  the  ele- 
ments of  public  worship,  will  follow  each  other  according 
to  the  simplest  arrangment,  so  as  to  relieve  alike  both 
pastor  and  people  from  undue  fatigue,  and  secure  the  ut- 
most depth  and  unity  of  impression.  They  will  not  seek 
to  work  these  things  together  as  a  piece  of  art,  an  elaborate 
Mosaic  service,  in  which  the  hand  of  invention  shall  be 
perpetually  visible;  to  understand  which,  requires  study 
and  practice  ;  involving  a  long-drawn  succession  of  changes 
of  posture,  of  erections  and  prostrations,  of  addresses  and 
responses,  so  complicated  as  to  demand  a  directory,  and 
bewilder  even  the  intelligent  stranger,  who,  for  the  first 
time,  witnesses  it,  and  lead  him  to  imagine  himself  in  the 
presence  of  some  pantomimic  representation.  They  will 
seek  rather  to  have  the  number  of  changes,  in  their  ser- 
vice, as  few  as  is  consistent  with  a  just  variety,  and  so 
open  and  simple  in  their  order,  as  to  commend  themselves 
to  the  piety  and  intelligence  of  all  the  followers  of  Jesus. 
They  will  not  clothe  their  ministers  in  priestly  vestments 
bringing  back  into  Christian  assemblies  the  Mosaic  idea 
of  a  formal  and  outward  holiness,  in  opposition  to  the  New 
Testament  idea,  that  all  Christians  are  now  a  royal  priest- 
hood,* and  attracting  to  the  mere  man  that  attention 
which  should  be  given  to  the  truth.  Standing  upon  the 
higher  platform  of  this  Christian  dispensation,  they  will 
conform  the  style  of  their  worship  to  its  noble  simplicity. 


18 

Second,  they  will  seek  a  kind  of  service  best  adapted 
to  promote  the  highest  spirituality  of  mind,  and  Irirg  the 
heart  into  the  most  intelligent  communion  with  God.  In 
the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  there  are  two  principal  ob- 
jects. The  first  is  instruction,  the  second,  the  awakenirg 
and  expression  of  devotion ;  the  first  involves  the  com- 
munication of  just  views  of  the  divine  character,  and  our 
relations  and  duties;  the  second,  the  expression  of  our 
affections,  and  the  training  of  the  heart  to  intimate  and 
direct  communion  with  the  Redeemer.  The  first  is  essen- 
tial to  the  second  ;  it  is  the  foundation  for  the  edifice,  it 
is  the  condition  indispensable  to  all  true  devotion.  Cor- 
rect views  must  precede  correct  emotions ;  and  the  soul 
can  never  grow  in  grace  save  as  it  grows  in  the  knowledge 
of  Christ.  Ignorance  is  the  mother  of  vice,  and  can 
never  be  associated  as  an  ally  in  man's  spiritual  progress, 
The  very  illuminations  of  the  divine  spirit  honor  the  truth, 
by  being  always  associated  with  it. 

It  is  the  glory  of  this'  Christion  dispensation,  that  the 
Gospel  is  preached;  that  the  priesthood  and  the  rite-per- 
former have  given  place  to  the  ministry  of  reconciliation 
— sent  forth  primarily  not  to  baptize,*  but  to  preach  the 
word  of  life  in  season  and  out  of  season,  reproving,  exhort- 
ing, instructing,  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  thoroughly 
furnished  unto  all  good  works.  A  Christian  Church  will 
have  a  care,  therefore,  that,  in  the  ordering  of  their  public 
worship,  they  give  the  chief  place  to  the  preaching  of  the 
truth  ;  that  they  put  foremost  that  which  Jesus  and  his- 
apostles  hare  placed  foremost ;  that  they  adopt  no  ritual 
by  which  this  noblest,  this  most  characteristic  power  of 

*  1  Cor.  L  17. 


19 

the  Christian  dispensation,  is  prevented  from  having  its 
fullest  development,  and  putting  forth  its  highest  energy. 
The  faithful  preaching  of  the  word,  more  than  all  things 
else,  is  connected  with  the  spirituality  of  the  Church; 
and  no  matter  how  orthodox  and  correct  may  be  the  other 
parts  of  the  divine  service,  yet,  if  this  be  absent,  or  if  it 
be  degraded  to  an  incidental  and  an  inferior  position,  or 
if  the  pulpit  contradict  the  desk,  and  that  which  is  the 
expression  of  devotion  find  nothing  in  the  instructions  of 
the  sanctuary  by  which  it  may  gain  new  life  and  strength 
then  piety  will  decline,  and  the  form  of  religion  will  alone 
remain,  as  the  shell  within  which  the  kernel  is  withered. 

But  when  they  have  made  thus  prominent  the  preach- 
ing of  the  word,  it  will  be  necessary  for  them  to  determine 
in  what  manner  the  other  parts  of  divine  service,  especial- 
ly that  of  prayer,  shall  be  conducted.  Here,  in  these 
last  days,  two  ways  present  themselves.  The  one  is  the 
printed  form;  the  other,  the  spontaneous  offering  of  the 
heart,  guided  by  the  intellect,  and  receiving  its  shape  in 
the  utterance  of  the  minister.  The  first  selects  the  prayers 
of  good  men,  and  repeats  them,  without  variation,  from 
Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  and  from  year  to  year.  The  second 
supposes  that  the  pastor,  if  he  have  intelligence  and  piety 
enough  to  preach,  ought  to  have  enough  to  lead  the  devo- 
tions of  the  people  in  prayer. 

Without  entering  into  a  protracted  discussion  of  this 
subject,  it  will  be  sufficient,  for  my  present  purpose,  to 
present  a  single  train  of  thought  True  prayer,  let  it  be 
borne  in  mind,  is  the  most  intimate,  direct,  and  unveiled 
communion  with  God.  It  is  most  perfect  when  the  heart 
is  brought  most  immediately  into  the  presence  of  God,  is 
most  entirely  isolated  from  all  things  else,  and  is  most 


20 

fully  aosorbed  in  directly  addressing  Jehovah.  Supposing 
always  that  the  views  of  the  worshipper  respecting  the 
being  worshipped  are  correct,  prayer  involves  a  direct 
application  to  an  invisible  Jehovah,  a  summoning  of  the 
whole  man  to  the  most  abstract  and  spiritual  of  all  works, 
a  retirement  from  the  world  of  sense  to  the  world  of  spir- 
it, a  bringing  up  from  the  depths  of  the  soul,  all  its  wants 
and  all  its  emotions,  and  a  spreading  them  forth  before 
the  eye  of  an  omniscient  and  an  ever-present  Lord.  And 
that  mode  of  prayer  will  demonstrably  be  the  best,  which 
most  effectually  accomplishes  these  objects;  not  that 
which  produces  a  vague  present  impression,  not  that  which 
most  easily  seizes  hold  of  the  senses^  not  that  which  does 
away  with  the  necessity  for  a  personal  application  of  the 
mind  and  heart  to  the  work  before  it ;  but  that  which 
shuts  up  the  man  to  this  one  business,  which  compels  iso- 
lation from  worldly  objects,  and  casts  out  worldly  thoughts, 
which  obliges  the  heart  and  mind  to  engage  in  it,  which 
most  effectually  trains  them  for  this  highest  and  purest 
work  of  an  intelligent  spirit. 

To  effect  this  training,  and  accustom  the  spirit  to  rise, 
as  on  eagle's  wings,  heavenward,  and  hold  most  intimate 
converse  with  Jehovah,  and  open  to  him  all  the  inmost 
man,  we  are  well  assured,  from  a  wide  and  protracted  ex- 
perience of  the  Church  in  different  ages,  the  habit  of 
extempore  prayer  is  greatly  more  powerful  than  the  con- 
stant use  of  a  printed  form.  In  the  former  case,  the  eyes 
are  closed  to  all  external  objects  of  attraction,  and  the 
mind  stimulated  to  apply  itself  exclusively  to  the  one 
great  business  of  supplication.  And  though,  at  the  first, 
83  a  child,  learning  to  walk,  will  have  many  a  fall,  the 
Christian  will  find  the  law  of  mental  association  exposes 


21 

him  to  the  intrusion  of  unwelcome  and  diverting  thoughts ; 
yet,  as  he  carries  forward  this  spiritual  discipline,  he  will 
attain  a  more  perfect  command  of  his  intellect,  and  an 
ability  to  abstract  himself  from  all  earthly  concerns.  There 
is,  in  this  habit  of  extempore  prayer,  a  far  greater  power 
of  isolation — of  gathering  about  the  soul,  in  the  midst  of 
a  multitude,  the-  conscious  presence  of  Jehovah,  and  the 
awful  realities  of  another  world,  than  can  be  attained  in 
any  other  way.  With  but  one  sense  open  to  the  world, 
and  that  fully  occupied  with  the  voice  of  prayer,  the  sup- 
pliant follows  the  general  course  of  the  petition,  rising 
with  it,  adding  to  it,  and  applying  it  to  his  own  case,  as 
his  feelings  and  conscious  wants  dictate.  If  new  emotions 
rise,  if  new  objects  present  themselves,  he  learns  how  to 
incorporate  them  into  the  more  public  supplications,  and 
bear  them  before  the  mercy -seat  in  the  chariot  of  his  mute 
petition.  Quickened  by  the  living  voice,  uttering  the 
spontaneous  emotions  of  the  heart,  in  language  shaped  by 
feeling,  and  penetrated  with  it  to  an  extent  rarely  attained 
in  the  use  of  a  stereotyped  form,  he  pours  forth  the  full- 
ness of  his  own  heart.  He  prays  as  did  Paul  on  the  sea 
and  amid  the  tempest,  as  did  Christ  in  Gethsemane,  as, 
without  a  question,  did  the  whole  company  of  apostles 
and  early  Christians  ;  in  secret,  he  presents  his  own  peti- 
tions as  they  rise  in  his  soul ;  in  public,  he  uses  the  prayer 
and  voice  of  the  pastor  as  an  assistant  and  guide,  but  not 
as  a  substitute. 

When,  however,  we  use  a  form,  and  that  is  repeated  by 
many  voices,  and  is  also  broken  up,  so  as  to  involve 
frequent  changes  of  posture,  then  we  multiply  the 
sources  of  distraction ;  we  open  the  eyes  to  read,  the  most 
unnatural  mode  of  prayer,  giving  the  world  another  inlet 


22 

to  the  soul;  we  bring  a  work  of  art  between  us  and  GocT; 
we  accustom  ourselves  to  lean  on  it.  It  is  ultimately  far 
more  difficult  for  the  soul  to  isolate  itself,  and  hold  perfect 
spiritual  communion  with  the  Invisible,  than  when  the 
senses  are  closed  to  all  without,  and  spirit  with  spirit 
holds  its  unseen  and  silent  converse.  The  form  aggravates 
the  tendency,  always  strong  in  the  human  heart,  to  des- 
cend from,  the  spiritual  to  the  formal.  Nothing  can  per- 
manently hold  back  the  spirit  from  this  degeneracy,  aside 
from  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  well  as  the  in- 
wrought habit  of  spiritual,  and  isolated,  and  extempore 
prayer. 

To  the  correctness  of  thi&  reasoning,  the  world  often 
bears  its  unwilling  testimony.  In  the  formal  style  of 
worship,  we  see  men  of  earth  joining  as  if  they  rendered 
an  acceptable  service;  while,  in  the  other,  they  find  brought 
home  to  them  a  spirituality  to  which  they  are  conscious  of 
being  strangers,  and  with  which  they  surely  have  no  sym- 
pathy. It  is  a  work  too  high,  too  spiritual,  to  isolate 
themselves  for  the  direct  work  of  prayer,  and  bring  their 
spirits  individually  to  the  throne  of  grace.  It  offends 
them  not  to  join  with  a  multitude  of  voices  in  the  responses 
of  a  Liturgy,  since  this  obliges  them  to  undertake  no  work 
of  personal  communion  with  Jehovah,  and  permits  them 
readily  to  sink  their  individual  responsibility  in  the  gen- 
eral excitement  and  distracting  influence  of  the  multitude. 
And  thus,  however  admirably  a  Liturgy  m;iy  be  arranged, 
and  however  beautiful  and  truly  excellent  may  be  its  parts, 
and  however  it  may  assist  the  devotions  of  some  who  are 
already  spiritual;  yet,  as  a  means  of  training  men  to  ap- 
preciate the  worship  of  the  heart  rather  than  of  the  lips, 
of  forcing  home  upon  the  unregener-ate  their  lost  and 


t  23 

irreligious  condition,  of  imparting  to  Christians  the  power 
of  abstraction  from  the  world,  and  command  over  their 
own  thoughts,  and  the  most  entire  isolation  of  the  soul, 
it  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the  more  natural  and  simple 
method  of  extempore  prayer. 

Third,  in  arranging  their  mode  of  divine  service,  they 
will  make  it  such  as  will  best  adapt  it  to  the  varying  wants 
of  a  congregation.  They  will  not  predetermine  just  what 
hymns  shall  be  sung,  what  portions  of  Scripture  shall  be 
read,  or  what  objects  shall  alone  be  presented  in  prayer. 
To  do  this,  is  to  destroy  one  object  in  having  a  pastor;  it  is 
to  reduce  him,  so  far  as  these  services  are  concerned,  to  a 
mere  reading  machine;  it  is  to  take  away  all  judgment, 
and  consideration,  and  will  on  these  points,  and  oblige  him 
to  follow  an  iron  rule,  fixed  with  no  reference  to  the  par- 
ticular condition  of  the  congregation;  it  derogates  from 
the  high  idea  of  an  apostolic  pastor — of  one  who,  from  his 
own  knowledge  of  the  flock,  is  best  prepared  to  select 
subjects  of  discourse  adapted  to  their  state,  portions  of 
the  word,  hymns,  and  psalms,  corresponding  therewith, 
while  he  so  shapes  his  prayers  as  to  bring  into  view  the 
different  and  peculiar  circumstances  of  his  charge.  In 
public  prayer,  as  in  the  preaching  of  the  word,  there  are 
some  subjects  always  appropriate,  yet  there  is  a  wide  range 
of  other  subjects,  which  demand  either  attention,  or  greater 
or  less  prominence,  according  to  the  varying  circumstances 
of  the  congregation.  There  are  times  of  sorrow  and  of 
joy,  times  of  worldliness  and  of  deep  solemnity,  of  health 
and  wide-spread  sickness,  of  peace  and  war,  which,  as  they 
occur,  should  receive  a  special  attention,  and  modify  the 
services  of  God's  house. 

In  arranging  their  mode  of  worship,  that  it  may  most 


24 

effectually  accomplish  the  object  of  its  institution?  this 
Christian  Church  will  not  prescribe  for  the  pastor  such  an 
order  of  things  as  to  forestall  his  judgment,  and  prevent 
him  from  selecting  the  means  best  adapted  to  render  his 
preaching  effectual,  and  the  service  in  harmony  with  the 
condition  of  the  people.  Influenced  by  these  and  kind- 
red reasons,  seeing  that,  with  some  temporary  advantages, 
an  elaborate  Liturgy  has  so  many  disadvantages,  and  so 
strong  a  tendency  to  formalism — they  reject  it,  and 
choose  the  simpler  form  and  order  of  the  primitive 
Church. 

In  the  beginning  of  such  a  Church,  it  is  obvious,  that 
an  involved  and  artistically  wrought  service  is  unnatural  and 
inappropriate.  Guided  by  the  dictates  of  a  pure  and  sim- 
ple Christianity,  not  yet  aspiring  to  the  inventions  of  the 
theater,  and  the  contrivances  of  art,  they  will  adopt  the 
more  unartificial  and  obvious  arrangements  of  the  divine 
service.  Having  one  abundantly  able  to  lead  their  devo- 
tions, and  preach  the  word  of  God,  they  feel  not  the  want 
of  the  prayers  or  discourses  of  other  men,  however  wise, 
and  good,  and  distinguished  they  may  have  been.* 


*  In  these  remarks  it  is  the  author's  design,  briefly  to  justify  our  own 
preference  for  the  simple  form  of  worship,  characteristic  of  our  Church, 
in  common  with  most  of  the  other  evangelical  Churches.  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  matter  worthy  of  the  serious  reflection  of  those  excellent  men 
in  the  Episcopal  Church,  who  mourn  over  the  prevalence  of  a  semi- 
Papacy  in  large  portions  of  the  Church,  of  their  honest  preference  and 
filial  love,  whether  the  tendency  thus  manifested  to  adopt  the  spirit,  and 
often  the  form,  of  Popery,  is  not  due,  in  part,  to  the  Liturgical  training 
of  the  people,  as  well  as  to  the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration,  in 
the  Prayer-book ;  whether,  had  England  adopted  the  simpler  form,  we 
should  have  seen,  in  the  very  face  of  the  Reformation,  and  to  the  scan- 
dal of  our  common  Protestantism,  such  a  return  to  the  practices  of  the 
Mother  of  Abominations;  whether, in  short,  the  Liturgy  does  not  train 


25 

We  have  now  traced  the  progress  of  this  company  of 
believers,  in  the  organization  of  a  visible  Church,  unilt 
we  find  them  possessed  of  a  creed,  a  pastor,  and  a  definite 
order  of  divine  worship.  But  as  they  increase,  the  ne- 
cessities of  their  condition  will  oblige  the  creation  of  other 
offices.  The  time  will  come,  when  a  house  of  worship 
must  be  erected,  and  the  secular  concerns  of  the  Church 
will  demand  the  special  attention  of  individuals- qualified 
to  manage  them.  Provision  must  be  made  for  the  admini- 
stration of  the  ordinances  and  the  temporal  support  of  the 
pastor.  Meanwhile,  as  numbers  increase,  there  will  rise 
up  within  the  Church  itself,  those  who  stand  in  need  of 
its  support  and  guidance;  those  whom  sickness,  and  be- 
reavement, and  the  reverses  of  business,  have  deprived 
of  the  ability  to  sustain  themselves;  widows  and  orphans, 
to  be  nourished  with  fraternal  tenderness,  and  guided  with 
parental  wisdom,  and  cared  for  as  members  of  the  body  of 
Christ. 

To  attend  to  all  these  interests  systematically  and 
thoroughly;  to  deliver  the  pastor  from  the  weight  of  secu- 
lar concerns,  and  the  Church  from  the  odium  of  not  caring 
for  her  own  membership,  it  is  found  necessary  to  choose 
good  and  able  men,  accustomed  to  such  things,  to  act  for 
the  Church  as  its  stewards,  to  collect  and  disburse  the 
offerings  of  the  people,  and  maintain  thus  a  system  of  re- 
lief and  support,  befitting  brethren  bound  to  bear  each 
other's  burdens,  and  look  not  on  their  own  things  alone> 

the  people  to  a  style  of  worship  which  prepares  many  minds  for  the 
ascendancy  of  Popery  itself.  It  is  not  in  the  spirit  of  controversy,  but 
as  a  subject  worthy  at  least  of  examination  by  the  friends  of  the  Re- 
deemer in  that  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  that  this  suggestion  is 
made. 


26  ^ 

but  on  those  of  others.  Thus  will  the  order  of  Deacons, 
or  secular  ministers,  arise — an  order  not  instituted  to 
preach,  nor  to  be  a  stepping  stone  to  the  pastoral  office; 
not  an  order  of  mere  licentiates,  the  heirs-expectant  of  a 
priestly  office,  or  a  prelate's  seat— but  an  exclusively  secular 
order,  elected  and  instituted  to  manage  finances,  and  care 
for  widows  and  orphans,  and  minister  to  the  poor,  and 
supply  for  the  Church  that  department  of  its  internal 
police,  without  which  it  would  be  obviously  defective,  but 
with  which  it  becomes  the  most  efficient  organization  in 
the  world,  for  the  relief  of  the  distressed,  and  the  eleva- 
vation  of  the  poor.* 

If,  now,  we  could  suppose  this  company  of  professed 
discipbs  to  be,  in  the  main,  perfect  in  the  exercise  of 
Christian  feeling,  and  the  exhibition  of  Christian  character, 
we  might  leave  them  to  live  and  grow,  and  spread  abroad 
their  influence  in  the  world.  But,  instead  of  this,  it  is  a 
confessed  fact,  that  these  men  are  all  imperfect;  that  some 
of  them,  in  all  probability,  are  not  at  heart  true  disciples; 
that  no  external  organization  can  wholly  prevent  the  oc- 
currence of  offenses  against  the  purity  of  the  Church,  and 
the  law  of  Christ.  Amid  the  temptations  of  the  world, 
and  the  still  unvanquished  corruptions  that  cling  to  our 
fallen  nature,  the  professed  Christian  lives ;  and  it  will  not 
be  strange,  if  occasionally  not  only  the  bounds  of  Christian 
propriety,  but  the  clear  and  stern  commands  of  Jesus, 
should  be  overleaped.  But  when  the  offense  arises ;  when 
the  law  that  upholds  the  purity  and  life  of  the  Church  is 
broken;  when  the  name  of  Jesus  is  openly  dishonored  by 
his  avowed  disciples,  a  question  at  once  arises,  most  ser- 

*  Phil.  i.  1;  1  Tim.  iii.  13-15;  Acts  vi.  1-6. 


27 

ious  in  its  character,  and  large  in  its  influence  for  good  or 
evil,  as  it  is  answered. 

Not  to  regard  the  offense  at  all,  to  neglect  all  discipline, 
is  to  throw  down  the  walls  of  the  visible  Church,  to  make 
the  outward  and  formal  body  of  Christ  the  abode  of  dem- 
ons; and  as  men  are  greatly  influenced  by  that  which  is 
visible — by  the  sight  of  a  visibly  pure  Church — to  recog- 
nize the  reality  of  religion,  so,  to  destroy  that  visibility, 
is,  with  the  multitude,  to  destroy  religion,  and  nullify  one 
of  the  strongest  influences  for  the  conversion  of  men. 
How,  then,  and  by  whom,  shall  discipline  be  conducted, 
and  the  offender  tried?     Shall  the  pastor  be  judge  and 
jury?     But  this  is  to  make  the  ministry  a  despotism,  and 
the  minister  a  despot;  it  is  to  intrust  a  power  to  an  indi- 
vidual, which  he  is  very  liable  to  abuse.     All  power  is 
open  to  abuse;  but  the  experience  of  the  world  has  shown 
that,  in  these  cases  of  public  concern,  there  is  a  peculiar 
liability  to  such  abuse,  when  it  is  centered  in  a  single 
individual.     Besides,  the  offense  may  respect  the  pastor 
himself,  or  those  for  whom  he  feels  a  special  sympathy;  so 
that  he  is  apparently  incapacitated,  by  his  position  and 
relations,  from  sitting  as  sole  judge  in  the  case.     For,  how- 
ever honest  and  upright  he  may  be,  yet,  sharing  in  the 
imperfection  of  all  Christians,  he  is,  like  them,  not  insen- 
sible to  temptation,  nor  above  all  unhappy  bias.     Theoreti- 
cally, there  is  no  more  beautiful  system  of  law  than  that 
which  combines  all  the  attributes  of  sovereignty  in  the 
single  man;  but  in  this  world,  and  among  the  imperfect, 
none  has  proved  more  thoroughly  opposite  to  the  highest 
welfare  of  the  race. 

Shall,  then,  the  members  of  the  Church,  in  full  assem- 
bly, resolve  themselves  into  a  court,  and  administer  dis- 


28 

cipline  ?  To  this  there  are  strong  objections.  If  the  one 
man  is  liable  to  be  swayed  by  feeling,  and  blinded  by 
prejudice,  this  is  equally  true  of  a  multitude.  A  popular 
assembly,  unaccustomed  to  judge  of  evidence,  impatient 
of  that  slow  and  careful  process,  indispensable  oftentimes 
to  the  full  elucidation  of  the  facts,  is,  besides,  peculiarly 
susceptible  to  false  impressions  from  the  plausible  and 
ingenious  advocate,  and  greatly  exposed  to  be  swayed  by 
impulse  and  momentary  feeling.  Not  unfrequently,  the 
process  of  a  public  trial  before  such  a  court  engenders 
deep  and  lasting  divisions,  arrays  the  members  of  it  in  a 
partisan  struggle,  and  breathes  into  them  a  spirit  of  strife 
infinitely  worse  than  the  original  offense.  There  are  cases 
where  it  is  essential  to  the  interests  of  justice  and  right- 
eousness, that  long,  minute,  and  painful  examinations 
should  be  gone  through;  where  many  witnesses  must  be 
examined,  and  the  law  of  evidence  studied  and  applied 
most  carefully,  before  a  just  conclusion  can  be  reached. 
There  are  cases  involving  scenes  wholly  unfit  for  a  public 
investigation,  on  which  none  but  those  who  are  compelled, 
by  duty,  should  attempt  to  look.  As  a  trial  proceeds 
before  a  popular  assembly,  if  it  be  much  protracted,  it  will 
often  happen,  that  all  can  not  be  present  through  its  con- 
tinuance, and  the  question  may  come  at  last  to  be  decided 
by  many  who  have  heard  only  a  portion  of  the  evidence, 
or  by  a  part  only  of  the  body. 

Now,  when  you  consider  that  a  true  Church  of  Christ 
will  embrace  minds  of  every  variety  of  intelligence,  here 
and  there  one  admirably  prepared  to  grapple  with  the 
difficulties  of  discipline,  while  the  mass,  by  their  previous 
pursuits,  are  unfitted  for  this  important  work;  when  you 
consider  the  ease  with  which  a  popular  body  may  be  swayed , 


29 

and  its  passions  appealed  to,  and  decisions  the  most  unjust 
attained;  when  you  see  how  easily  the  most  trifling  offense 
may  give  rise  to  parties,  and  destroy  the  peace  of  the 
Church;  when  you  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  bring  a  large 
number  of  persons,  engaged  in  their  own  pressing  pursuits, 
to  give  the  time  and  attention  necessary  to  master  a  diffi- 
cult case ;  when  you  are  sure  that  some  of  these  offenses 
are  of  a  nature,  the  details  of  which  it  is  a  temptation  and 
a  shame  to  spread  before  a  public  assembly — when  you 
consider  all  these  aspects  of  a  purely  congregational  dis- 
cipline, you  will  not  wonder  if  this  Church  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  should  seek  for  some  other  mode  of  trying 
offenses,,  and  securing  general  purity  and  order.  She 
might  be  told,  indeed,  that  her  members  must  be  supposed 
to  be  honest,  though  imperfect;  that,  by  this  process,  they 
would  be  trained  to  intelligent  action,  and  a  just  judgment. 
In  answer,  she  might  say,  "The  very  necessity  of  disci- 
pline, shows  our  liability  not  only  to  err,  but  to  sin ;  while 
our  honesty  of  purpose  does  not  secure  us  either  the 
requisite  intelligence,  the  freedom  from  the  impulses  of 
passion,  or  insensibility  to  the  sight  of  corruption;  while, 
as  a  Church,  we  are  in  a  state  too  variable,  and  the  res- 
ponsibility is  too  generally  diffused,  ever  to  lead  us  to 
indulge  the  Utopian  anticipation  of  seeing  the  multitude 
fully  qualified  for  such  a  work  as  this." 

Wherever  true  freedom  has  advanced  in  the  world,  it 
has  fled  alike  from  the  despot  and  the  town-meeting,  as 
judge  and  jury;  it  has  created,  as  its  chief  triumph,  and 
mightiest  bulwark  of  human  right?,  a  tribunal  combining 
the  intelligent  understanding  of  law,  the  practical  sense 
that  judges  of  matters  of  fact,  with  as  much  cool  inde- 
pendence and  impartiality  of  feeling,  as  can  well  be  at- 


tained  by  any  system  which  fallible  men  are  to  work.  That 
tribunal,  in  all  states  where  true  freedom  exists,  is  not 
the  public  assembly,  however  it  may  be  distinguished  for 
honesty  ar.d  patriotism ;  it  is  not  the  single  judge  or  the 
solitary  monarch,  however  incorruptible  and  wise  he  may 
be  supposed  to  be.  It  is  the  judge  and  the  selected  jury, 
set  apart  for  a  special  work,  sworn  to  administer  the  law 
and  judge  of  the  evidence,  according  to  truth  and  right- 
eousness. This  tribunal  combines  the  highest  qualities  for 
the  best  administration  of  justice.  It  is  the  result  of  the 
experience  of  ages  ;  is  the  noblest  jewel,  wrenched  from 
the  hand  of  absolute  power,  and  set  in  the  coronal  of  free- 
dom. Yea,  it  is  more  than  a  jewel,  an  ornament  of  splendor; 
it  is  the  strongest  barrier  against  the  encroachments  of 
the  sovereign  of  the  one  side,  and  the  licentiousness  of  the 
popular  assembly  on  the  other;  against  the  intolerance,  and 
the  ambition,  and  the  pride  of  the  first,  and  the  prejudice, 
and  pasdon,  and  haste  of  the  second, 

NoWj  the  body  of  brethren  before  us,  see  open  to  them 
one  of  three  courses.  They  may  retain  all  discipline  in 
their  own  hands,  or  commit  it  to  the  pastor,  or  select  a  few 
of  their  OAvn  number,  known  to  be  intelligent,  devoted,  im- 
partial, and  active,  who,  in  conjunction  with  the  pastor  as 
their  chairman,  shall  be  solemnly  bound  to  administer  it 
according  to  the  rules  which  the 'Church  shall  adopt — rules 
frarnad  to  secure  the  rights  of  individuals,  and  guard  against 
oppression.  Aside  from  the  difficulties  attending  the  first 
two  methods  of  discipline,  they  find  in  this  third  body  a 
tribunal,  approved  by  the  experience  of  ages ;  by  which, 
without  noise,  or  confusion,  or  party  strife,  the  necessary 
arrangements  can  readily  be  made,  and  the  case  patiently 
tried.  They  know  that  men  thus  selected  will  usually  be 


31 

less  subject  to  the  impulses  of  passion  and  sympathy  than 
a  popular  assembly ;  that  they  will  become  accustomed  to 
judge  of  evidence,  and  acquire  a  facility  in  the  dispatch  of 
business ;  that,  as  it  is  their  appropriate  business,  they  will 
be  far  more  likely  to  see  that  discipline  is  duly  adminis- 
tered, than  when  it  is  left  to  every  member  of  the  Churcli ; 
that  they  can  more  easily  heal  difficulties  in  their  origin, 
and  bring  back  the  wandering,  by  the  very  quietness  with 
which  they  proceed ;  that  they  will  be  able  to  conduct 
trials,  which,  if  made  public,  'Would  contaminate  rather  than 
purify,  in  a  manner  to  save  the  Church  from  an  offense 
greater  than  the  original ;  that  they  can  give  a  more  pa- 
tient and  protracted  attention  to  difficult  cases,  demanding 
nice  discrimination  and  a  knowledge  of  the  law  of  evidence, 
than  could  possibly  be  given  in  a  crowd  of  Church  mem- 
bers. Moreover,  they  know  that  a  popular  assembly  is  only 
in  a  loose  sense  a  government,  and  that  all  such  bodies 
mast,  in  any  case,  provide  executive  officers,  who  shall  pre- 
pare the  business,  and  afterward  supervise  the  execution  of 
their  decrees.    It  is  a  matter  of  fact  that,  when  the«disci- 
pline  is  retained  in  such  an  assembly,  yet  to  render  it  effec- 
tual, the  principal  part  of  it  is  often  delegated  to  individuals 
and  committees,  selected  for  the  purpose. 

With  these  views,  they  resolve- to  elect  a  board  of  Elders 
for  the  administration  of  discipline -and  government,  as  the 
tribunal,  above  all  others,  most  conservative  of  their  liber- 
ties, and  best  adapted  to  promote  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  Church.  In  this  body,  the  pastor  sits  simply  as 
moderator  and  expounder  of  the  law,  on  a  perfect  equality, 
in  respect  to  discipline,  with  all  the  other  members- — a1! 
are  overseers,  bishops,  presbyters,  ciders ;  combining  the 
intelligence  of  the  ministry  with  the  intelligence  and  prac- 


32 

tical  tact  and  general  knowledge  of  the  laity.  To  this  body 
the  Church  commits  not  only  the  general  disipline  of  the 
house  of  God,  but  the  admission  of  new  members,  and  all 
such  other  matters  as  to  them  may  seem  best.  In  the 
absence  of  the  pastor,  it  is  usually  incumbent  on  them  to 
see  that  his  place  is  properly  filled,  by  appointing  either 
one  of  then*  own  number,  or  some  other  person,  to  that 
duty.*  In  this  manner,  the  general  arrangements  for 
worship  and  discipline  are  most  effectually  secured;  and 
we  see  the  visible  Church  rising  before  us  in  the  order  and 
harmony  of  the  human  form,  with  an  erect  and  healthful 
trunk,  and  limbs  to  execute  its  purposes,  while  Christ  is 
its  glorious  head.  It  is  neither  body  alone,  nor  feet,  nor 
hands  alone;  but,  by  the  proper  casting  of  parts  and 
division  of  offices,  every  member  hath  some  special  work 
assigned  him,  in  the  performance  of  which,  the  whole  body 
maketh  increase  unto  the  edifying  itself  in  all  Christian 
graces.  Here  is  a  company  of  believers,  who  thus,  ad- 
vancing step  by  step  in  the  path  of  mutual  edification,  at 
length  perfect  their  organization,  with  direct  reference  to 
their  felt  wants,  and  stand  forth,  before  the  world,  a  full- 
grown  church  of  Christ 

We  have  thus  seen  the  rise  of  a  single  Church.  We 
view  it  attaining  as  complete  an  organization  for  the  great 
purposes  designed,  as  could  well  be,  while  standing  by 
itself.  We  are  now  to  take  it  out  of  this  isolation,  and 
introduce  it  to  other  Churches  which,  in  like  manner, 
have  sprung  up  around  it.  Now,  very  much  the  same 
causes  which  operated  to  form  a  single  Church,  will  impel 
these  Churches,  as  their  numbers  multiply,  to  unite  for  the 

*1  Tim.  v.  17;  Acts.xv.  25,  xx.  28;  Rom.  xii.  7,  8;  1  Cor.  xii.  28; 
Heb.  xiii.  17;  1  Thess.  v.  12. 


accomplishment  of  certain  objects,  and  the  prevention  of 
certain  evils,  for  which,  while  independent,  they  are  not 
folly  adequate*  The  presence  of  other  Churches  alters  the 
position  of  the  Church  whose  progress  we  have  thus  far 
traced,  and  obliges  it  to  determine  in  what  way  they  are 
to  be  treated.  As  yet,  they  are  comparatively  ignorant  of 
each  other ;  they  feel,  however,  a  common  want — 4he  want 
of  general  fellowship  and  combination  against  the  world ; 
they  feel  that,  in  the  operation  of  their  independent  or- 
ganizations, there  are  some  evils  and  defects,  which  a  more 
general  union  might  remove  or  supply.  Impelled  by  these 
views,  the  Churches  within  a  convenient  distance  agree  to 
a  mutual  conference  for  the  adjustment  of  some  plan,  by 
which,  while  their  individual  efficiency  is  promoted,  they 
may  be  able  unitedly  to  accomplish  what  surpasses  their 
individual  capacity.  By  chosen  delegates,  they  meet  to- 
gether. The  first  great  principle  which  they  adopt  is  that 
which  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  constitutional  freedom,  the 
principle  of  representation.  Instead  of  having  an  associ- 
ation of  pastors  alone,  to  devise  and  act  for  the  Churches, 
they  resolve  that  it  is  important  the  Churches  should  be 
associated  as  well  as  the  pastors ;  and  to  secure  this  ob- 
ject, that  every  church  shall  be  entitled  to  send  a  repre- 
sentative to  the  contemplated  body.  While  the  pastor 
may  have  his  seat,  the  Church,  through  her  representative, 
must  also  have  her  seat.  If  measures  are  to  be  adopted, 
and  plans  laid,  that  are  to  affect  the  interests  of  all  the 
Churches ;  if  a  union  is  to  be  formed,  available  for  the 
purposes  desired ;  if  it  is  to  be  anything  more  than  a 
loose,  irresponsible  body,  without  efficiency,  and  without 
consideration,  then  is  it  a  fundamental  principle  that  each 
Church,  however  few  in  number  or  weak  in  influence,  shall 
3 


34 

not  only  have  her  pastor  present,  but  also  her  elder, 
through  whom  she  may  speak ;  by  whom  her  rights  may 
be  maintained,  her  interests  promoted,  and  her  views  de- 
clared. This  principle  is  fundamental  to  Christian  liberty 
in  ecclesiatical  organizations.  Neither  the  ministry  alone 
nor  the  laity  alone  can  form  the,  ablest,  freest,  and  most 
efficient  organization.  There  is  in  the  ministry  often  a 
tendency  to  dogmatism,  and  in  the  laity,  sometimes,  an 
equally  strong  disposition  toward  the  opposite  extreme. 
The  union  of  the  two  in  an  ecclesiastical  body  combines 
the  elements  of  a  healthy  progress  and  a  stable  union.  The 
two  modify  each  other,-  and  minister  to  the  strength  of  the 
whole  fabric,  and  adapt  it  more  perfectly  to  its  noble  pur- 
pose. 

Having  thus,  by  a  simple  rule,  settled  the  composition 
of  the  body  that  is  to  serve  as  their  bond  of  union,  they 
proceed  to  define  its  functions  and  -powers.  First,  each  of 
of  these  Churches  has  a  distinct  creed  of  its  own.  But, 
in  order  to  harmonious  action,  it  is  essential  that  there 
should  be  entire  confidence  in  the  rectitude  of  each  other's 
religious  views.  The  same  necessity  which  compels  the 
adoption  of  a  creed  in  the  individual  Church,  operates 
here  with  equal  force.  They  agree,  therefore,  upon  the 
terms  of  communion,  they  adopt  the  same  general  con- 
fession of  faith.  This  at  once  creates  uniformity  of  belief 
throughout  the  entire  circle  of  associated  Churches. 
Members  may  pass  from  one  to  the  other,  without  hesita- 
tion ;  and  the  fellowship  of  a  Christian  household  be  felt 
and  cherished  by  all.  As  these  Churches,  when  isolated, 
are  liable  to  suffer  from  the  efforts  of  crafty  and  design- 
ing men,  who  privily  would  bring  in  damnable  heresies, 
lead  astray  the  weak,  and  cause  multitudes -to  swerve  from 


35 

the  faith,  so,  to  assist  them  in  resisting  such  efforts,  these 
Churches  grant  to  their  own  representatives,  in  presbyte- 
ry assembled,  a  supervisory  power — a  right  to  inspect 
their  state,  and  admonish  them  of  the  wrong,  and  correct 
such  evils  of  this  kind  as  may  exist.  They  do  not  in  this 
create  a  tyranny,  but  a  legitimate  government,  in  which 
they  are  all  represented,  in  which  the  finest  elements  of 
freedom  are  happily  combined.  They  unite  in  presenting 
a  broader  front  to  the  advances  of  error,  and  repelling 
those  who  seek  to  destroy  their  original  terms  of  commun- 
ion, and  so  turn  them  from  the  faith. 

Second,  it  is  found  that  their  mode  of  ordaining  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel,  however  legitimate  in  itself,  is  yet 
connected  with  many  and  great  inconveniences.  Ordina- 
tion is  the  recognition  of  certain  qualifications,  given  by 
•Christ  for  the  ministry,  and  the  solemn  setting  apart  of 
an  individual  thus  gifted  to  that  high  office.  It  has  in  it 
no  "opus  operatum" — it  does  not  bestow  the  grace  and 
sanctity  necessary  to  the  discharge  of  this  office ;  it  recog- 
nizes them  as  already,  in  a  good  measure,  possessed;  it 
beholds  a  man  whom  Christ  has  set  apart  to  the  ministry, 
and  it  gives  the  sanction  of  the  ordaining  power  to  the 
exercise  of  these  ministerial  gifts,  in  all  the  appropriate 
duties  of  this  great  work.  Now,  it  is  obvious  that,  while 
a  Church  may  ordain  a  man  for  itself,  and  recognize  him 
as  a  minister  of  Christ,  and  clothe  him  with  authority  for 
that  purpose,  so  far  as  she  is  concerned,  yet  the  validity 
and  authority  of  his  ordination,  beyond  her  pale,  will  be 
in  exact  proportion  to  the  estimate  in  which  she  is  held 
as  a  Church,  and  to  the  qualifications  which  manifestly 
exist  in  the  person  she  has  set  apart  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  In  other  words,  it  is  only  so  far  as  her  authori- 


36 

ty  to  ordain  is  recognized,  that  such  an  ordination  will  be 
respected  and  held  as  valid.  But  the  independent  Church 
is,  perhaps,  weak  and  small,  composed  of  those  who  are 
not  particularly  qualified  to  pronounce  upon  the  qualifica- 
tions of  a  candidate  for  the .  ministry.  Unaccustomed  to 
the  work,  and  with  no  special  or  known  qualifications  for 
it,  she  selects  the  future  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  and  or- 
dains him  to  that  office,  and  sends  him  forth  to  preach. 
Now,  who  is  to  recognize  this  man  as  a  minister,  beyond 
the  Church  that  has  commissioned  him?  Of  this  Church 
little  has  gone  abroad,  and  what  is  known  is  far  from  in- 
spiring confidence  in  any  ordination  of  her's.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  out  of  her  bounds  her  regularly  ordained 
minister  derives  no  authority  from  his  ordination,  ceases 
to  be  regarded  as  a  minister,  just  as  truly  as  a  Presby- 
terian or  an  Episcopal  bishop  is  not  recognized  as  such  in 
the  Vatican.  His  influence  is,  consequently,  limited; 
and  it  may  be  long  before  he  will  be  able,  amid  such  dis- 
heartening circumstances,  to  commend  himself  to  the 
Church  at  large,  by  the  actual  demonstration  of  the  exis- 
tence in  him  of  the  sterling  qualifications  of  a  minister 
of  Christ.  Besides,  an  individual  Church,  in  addition  to 
her  want  of  a  wide-spread  influence  and  a  power  to  com- 
mend her  ordinations  to  those  without  her  limits,  may  not 
find  among  her  own  number  one  whom  she  thinks  really 
called  of  God  to  this  ministry ;  while  another  Church  may 
have  a  dozen  endowed  pre-eminently  with  all  the  gifts 
and  graces  essential  to  this  high  office.  It  is,  therefore, 
exceedingly  desirable  that  the  authority  to  ordain  minis- 
ters of  the  Gespel  should  be  vested  in  a  body  of  such 
character  and  influence,  and  in  such  relation  to  a  consid- 
erable body  of  Churches,  as  will  enable  them  to  select  the 


37 

most  suitable  candidates,  and  cause  their  ordination  to  be 
generally  recognized  and  respected  among  them  and  the 
world.  For  this  purpose,  it  is  determined  that  this  re- 
presentative body  of  their  pastors  and  elders  shall  take 
upon  themselves  the  responsibility  of  selecting  and  licens- 
ing suck  men  as,  in  their  judgment,  possess  the  chief 
qualifications  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  But  in  order 
to  secure  the  judgment  of  the  Church  at  large  upon  their 
qualifications,  except  in  rare  cases,  they  are  not  at  once 
ordained.  They  are  sent  forth  to  preach  as  probationers, 
to  be  proved  in  the  pulpit,  to  be  tested  in  the  actual  work 
of  the  ministry ;  and  when  the  Churches  have  borne  their 
testimony  to  the  fitness  of  these  Candidates  for  this  office, 
or  when  individual  Churches  shall  desire  their  services, 
they  are  then  solemnly  ordained  as  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel. But  should  it  be  "ascertained  that,  through  infirmi- 
ties of  spirit,  or  great  deficiency  in  ministerial  gifts,  they 
were  not  acceptable  to  the  people,  and  not  adapted  to  be 
useful  in  that  sphere  of  labor,  then  their  licensure  is 
recalled,  and  they  fall  back  into  another  department  of 
Christian  duty.  In  this  manner,  these  confederated  Chur- 
ches propose  to  secure  for  themselves  an  able,  devoted 
and  successful  ministry — a  ministry  that  shall  bear  the 
commendation  of  their  united  wisdom,  and  command  the 
recognition  and  respect  of  those  who  are  without.  Mean- 
while, as  learning  is  to  be  associated  with  piety,  in  order 
to  prepare  men  most  successfully  to  preach  the  word  of 
life,  they  avail  themselves  of  their  united  strength,  to 
establish  academies,  colleges,  and  seminaries  of  theologi- 
cal science.  Associated,  they  thus  effect  what  is  beyond 
the  power  of  isolated  Churches,  and  see  rising  among 
them  a  ministry,  resplendent  in  its  learning  and  ripe  in 


38 

piety,  useful  at  home,  respected  abroad,  and  prepared  to 
extend  the  religion  of  Jesus  into  the  distant  and  dark 
places  of  the  earth.* 

Having  thus  provided  for  the  increase,  the  ordination, 
and  perpetuity  of  the  ministry,  these  Churches  proceed 
to  consider  the  subject  of  a  mutual  discipline.  They  lay 
down,  as  fundamental  to  their  union,  these  two  principles: 
First,  that  every  member  of  their  body,  be  he  minister, 
elder,  deacon,  or  private  Christian,  shall  be  accounted  in- 
nocent, until  he  is  proved  guilty,  and  never  be  cut  off 
from  his  connection  with  the  Church,  except  after  a  fair 
tried.  Second,  that  in  order  to  secure  such  a  trial,  all 
proper  means  of  defense  shall  be  allowed,  and  the  case 
conducted  according  to  known  rules,  designed  to  secure 
the  unfolding  of  the  truth  in  the  fullest  manner.  These 
principles  underlie  all  their  disciplinary  arrangements ; 
they  are  the  foundations  for  the  strongest  ramparts  around 
individual  right  and  liberty- — foundations  such  as  the 
freest  civil  governments  have  laid,  on  which  to  erect  the 
noble  fabric  of  political  freedom.  In  order  to  give  the 
fullest  effect  to  these  principles,  this  confederated  Church, 
jealous  of  power,  knowing  that  the  best  men  may  err,  and 
the  coolest  sometimes  be  partial,  resolve  that,  if  any  of 
her  members  feel  aggrieved  by  the  decision  of  a  session; 
if  he  feels  that,  through  ignorance,  or  partiality,  or  mis- 
take, he  has  been  unjustly  dealt  with,* then  he  may  enjoy 
the  privilege  of  appeal  to  this  representative  body  of 
ministers  and  elders,  in  presbytery  assembled,  for  a  review 
of  his  case.  Nay,  so  large  and  full  is  this  liberty,  so 
solicitous  is  she  that  none  of  her  children  may  wrongfully 

*  1  Tim.  iv.  14 ;  Acts  XT.  2,  3,  4,  6,  22. 


39 

suffer,  that  she  permits  a  second  and  a  third  appeal  from 
the  judgment  of  a  local  body  to  a  larger  gathering  of  re- 
presentatives, convened  in  synod  or  assembly.  But  while 
she  concedes  to  him  this  privilege,  for  the  more  perfect 
attainment  of  justice,  she  declares  that  he  shall  be  solemn- 
ly bound  by  the  final  decision — that  he  shaD  not  put  his 
brethren  to  the  trouble  of  giving  him  a  full  and  impartial 
trial,  and  then 'treat  the  decision  as  mere  advice,  and  so 
make  a  farce  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  before  the  world. 
In  this  way,  the  privilege  of  appeal  from  acts  of  preju- 
dice, or  passion,  or  mistake,  is  granted  in  the  Church,  as 
well  as  in  the  state ;  and  a  person  is  not  compelled  to 
suffer  wrong  through  the  unhappy  decision  of  a  single 
Church,  or  pastor,  or  session.*  He  may  carry  his  cause 
from  this  lower  tribunal  before  his  brethren  at  large,  who, 


*  We  once  heard  an  esteemed  clergyman  publicly  argue  in  favor  of 
discipline  by  single  Churches,  because,  "when  a  thing  was  done,  then 
it  loos  done" — an  argument  as  strong  in  favor  of  despotism  as  the  Neros 
and  Napoleons  of  absolute  monarchy  could  desire.  This  very  fact,  that 
when  discipline  is  thus  done,  there  is  no'  retreat  for  injured  innocence, 
no  appeal  to  a  less  prejudiced  tribunal,  from  the  acts  of  haste,  or  passion, 
or  ignorance,  is  the  strong  argument  alike  against  the  decisions  of  a 
judge  Lynch  or  a  judge  Nero,  of  an  assembled  multitude  or  a  single 
man.  A  despotism,  whether  of  the  king  or  the  people,  is  the  simplest 
government  in  the  world.  Liberty  seeks  for  checks  and  balances,  for 
the  machinery  of  courts,  and  forms,  and  rules,  and  appeals — for  the 
utmost  license  of  investigation  and  review,  and  argument,  that  at  length 
the  right  may  stand  forth  in  the  clear  sunshine,  and  the  wrong  may 
reveal  its  hideous  features.  And  though,  at  times,  ingenious  wicked- 
ness may  double  and  twist,  and  seek  to  escape  through  these  salutary 
forms,  yet,  in  the  main,  true  freedom  is  maintained,  and  innocence  vin- 
dicated, and  crime  punished.  It  is  the  glory  of  Presbyterianiem  that 
it  not  only  gives  an  accused  member  a  trial,  but  that,  by  a  most  admi- 
rable set  of  rules,  it  seeks  to  make  that  a  fair  trial;  and  then,  by  th« 
right  of  appeal,  it  multiplies  the  means  for  vindicating  the  right,  and 
«ecuring  the  innocent  against  all  wrong. 


40 

removed  from  the  scene,  may  investigate  it  with  all  the 
coolness  of  an  unbiased  judgment,  and  decide  it  in  cir- 
cumstances as  favorable  for  the  attainment  of  justice  as, 
ever  exist  in  this  world. 

In  like  manner,  should  a  pastor  ever  be  chargeable  with 
crime,  or  difficulties  of  a  serious  character  arise  between 
him  and  the  Church  of  which  he  has  charge,  then  is  it 
part  of  the  same  general  policy,  that  he  shall  be  tried,  or 
the  causes  of  trouble  investigated,  not  by  the  Church  it- 
self, nor  by  the  session,  who,  from  their  relation  to  him, 
may  be  in  a  position  the  least  favorable  for  a  correct  de- 
cision ;  but  by  the  body  that  holds  the  ordaining  power 
by  the  Churches  in  their  associated  capacity,  by  the  pres- 
bytery of  which  he  is  a  member.  According  to  that  old 
and  just  maxim  of  common-law,  he  is  to  be  judged  by  his 
peers,  and  the  same  privilege  of  appeal  granted,  as  his 
protection  against  an  unjust  and  a  hasty  decision,  which 
is  given  to  the  humblest  member  of  the  Church. 

I  have  thus,  in  brief,  reviewed  some  of  the  leading 
principles  and  modes  of  discipline,  according  to  which 
these  Christian  societies  seek  to  aid  each  other  in  main- 
taining, unimpaired,  the  faith  and  liberties  of  the  house- 
hold of  faith.  Thus  associated  together,  they  regard  it 
as  a  binding  duty  they  owe  to  each  other  and  the  world, 
by  united  efforts  to  spread  the  Gospel  at  home  and  abroad; 
to  organize  new  Churches,  and  supply  them,  in  their  in- 
fancy, with  the  preaching  of  the  word ;  to  guard  against 
the  efforts  of  designing  men,  who  seek  to  introduce  among 
them  turmoil  and  strife ;  to  give  the  influence  of  their 
union  to  all  wholesome  reforms ;  and  in  all  appropriate 
ways  promote  each  other's  peace,  and  build  each  other  up 
in  the  faith,  and  love  and  practice  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 


41 

For  such  objects,  these  Churches  agree  to  this  intimate, 
fraternal,  and  apostolic  plan  of  union.  As  independent 
states,  each  Church  has  its  own  rights,  its  own  territory, 
its  own  government;  as  a  federal  union,  they  are  so  con- 
nected together  as  to  form  one  larger  state,  united  in  its 
aims,  its  discipline,  its  influence,  in  opposition  to  all  that 
is  evil,  and  in  favor  of  all  that  is  good.  They  present  to 
the  world  the  vision  of  a  true  republican  union,  constitu- 
ted not  for  the  aggrandizement  of  the  few,  but  solely  for 
the  edification  and  usefulness  of  the  many,  that  thus  we 
may  more  effectually  realize  the  spirit  of  a  Christian  uni- 
ty, and  work  at  greater  advantage  in  fulfilling  the  com- 
mand of  our  aseended  Master,  Go  ye  into  all  the  ivorld, 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature. 

Such,  in  its  outlines,  is  the  form  of  that  Church  under 
whose  broad  constitution  it  is  our  privilege  to  live,  to  con- 
stitute one  of  whose  higher  courts  we  are  this  day  assem- 
bled. Behold,  first,  its  order  !  See  how,  in  this  system, 
provision  is  most  fully  made  for  the  regular  and  quiet 
progress  of  the  people  of  God ;  for  the  orderly  develop- 
ment of  the  Church,  the  ministrations  and  ordinances  of 
the  Gospel,  the  training  up  and  ordination  of  an  efficient 
ministry,  the  regular  discipline  of  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
the  planting  of  new  Churches  among  the-  destitute,  and 
the  onward  progress  of  a  Christian  people  in  all  good 
works ;  how  to  each  individual  there  may  be  some  work 
assigned ;  and  thus,  as  the  several  parts  of  the  body,  all 
work  together  in  promoting  one  end. 

God  loves  not  confusion.  "Let  all  things  be  done  de- 
cently and  in  order  "is  a  rule  no  less  essential  in  the  Church 
than  in  the  family  and  the  state.  Behold,  then,  the  order 
of  our  house  !.  how  beautiful !  how  appropriate  !  how  sim- 
ple, yet  how  comprehensive ! 


V  42 

Second.  Behold  how  admirably  this  system  conserves 
religious  liberty !  It  hath  two  great  principles  which  are 
fundamental  to  the  highest  style  of  constitutional  and 
republican  freedom.  1.  The  principle  of  representation. 
All  power  goes  up  from  the  Churches.  In  hierarchical 
and  other  systems,  hostile  to  liberty,  the  power  descends 
from  the  ministry  to  the  Churches.  In  ours  it  ascends. 
The  Churches  choose  all  their  own  officers,  elect  their 
own  representatives,  and  have  a  voice  in  all  laws  and  rules 
by  which  they  are  to  be  affected.  The  republican  princi- 
ple of  representation  prevails  in  the  constitution  of  all 
our  ecclesiastical  bodies  above  the  original  ordinary  Church 
meeting.  2.  The  principle,  that  every  person  is  entitled 
to  a  fair  trial  according  to  the  form  of  liberty  which  the 
Churches  themselves  have  adopted.  No  man  can  rightly,  or 
constitutionally,  or  legally  be  condemned  and  cast  out  until 
after  a  fair  trial,  in  due  form,  before  his  peers,  and  after 
the  full  privilege  of  appeal  has  been  allowed  him,  and  all 
the  means  of  a  legitimate  defense  have  been  exhausted. 
The  poorest  and  the  lowliest  member  of  this  Church  has 
here  precisely  the  same  rights  with  the  most  powerful. 
Be  the  offender  a  poor  son  of  Africa,  with  the  brand  of 
centuries  of  oppression  and  degradation  upon  his  body,  he 
has  a  right  to  stand  up  here,  with  the  descendent  of  princes, 
and  enjoy  the  privilege  of  the  same  rules,  and  avail  him- 
self of  the  same  bulwarks  of  defense,  and  call  to  his  aid 
the  same  eloquence  and  force  of  argument  granted  to  his 
more  favored  brothers.  This  strong  refuge  of  liberty  is 
inwrought  into  the  constitution  of  our  Church.  Without 
it,  liberty  would  be  a  name,  not  a  fact,  both  in  Church  and 
state.  These  two  principles  of  representation  and  trial  by 
their  own  chosen  jury,  covering  the  rights  of  all  our  mem- 


i. 


43 

bership,  form  the  abutments  of  our  ecclesiastical  system. 
Let  either  one  be  removed,  and  its  integrity  is  destroyed; 
it  remains  one-sided,  inconsistent,  and  unable  to  sustain 
the  glorious  arch  of  religious  liberty.  This  is  the  finest 
discipline  for-  the  education  of  freemen.  A  true  Presby- 
terian will  never  suffer  himself  to  be  defrauded  of  the 
rights  of  his  manhood.  He  learns  "here  the  great  princi- 
ples of  liberty;  they  have  pervaded  the  Church  and 
breathed  around  the  fireside  from  his  childhood.  He  has 
learnt  to  bow  to  no  ecclesiastical  despotism ;  he  has  learnt 
that  neither  priest  nor  monarch  has  a  right  to  tyrannize 
over  his  conscience ;  that  power  comes  immediately  from 
the  Church,  and  not  from  the  officers  of  the  Church  alone ; 
that  it  is  not  a  company  of  pastors  or  deacons,  or  any 
mere  officials,  that  constitute  the  Church,  save  as  they 
may  be  selected  to  represent  and  maintain  her  interests, 
but  that  as  the  members  of  the  body  are  essential  to  its 
perfectness.  so  the  entire  Church,  in  its  most  perfect  state, 
embraces  all  the  members  of  Christ's  house  with  those 
whom  they  have  set  forth  as  their  executives.  Cherishing 
such  views,  they  will  not  brook  either  ecclesiastical  or  civil 
despotism ;  they  will  go  forth  a  noble  army  of  confessors 
without  the  camp  of  the  oppressor  ;  and,  as  did  Scotland's 
chosen  hosts  when  they  trod  beneath  their  feet  the  jewel- 
ed coronet  of  Victoria  as  the  emblem  of  a  spiritual  sov- 
reignty,  and  disowned  the  authority  of  the  state  in  the 
house  of  God  as  the  lord  of  their  conscience,  so  will  their 
true  brethren,  the  world  over,  while  respecting  authority 
in  its  legitimate  sphere,  and  loyal  as  any  others  to  the 
constitution  and  the  law,  resist  an  ecclesiastical  or  a  civil 
dictatorship,  and  proclaim  war  against  it  as  the  enemy  of 
God  and  man. 


44 

Third.  Behold  its  efficiency!  Its  order  and  its  freedom 
are  not  merely  a  theory.  They  do  much  to  form  the  char- 
acter for  active  labor,  for  large  enterprise,  for  intelligent, 
steady  progress.  They  ally  it  with  all  the  elements  of 
strength,  and  reform,  and  purity.  The  general  order  of 
the  house  of  Christ  is  essential  to  the  most  effective  work- 
ing of  its  members.  A  system  such  as  ours  does  not  fore- 
stall individual  action,  and  throw  the  labor  which  should 
be  borne  by  many  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  few.  Instead 
of  this,  while  it  secures  general  order,  and  provides  speci- 
fically for  more  general  wants,  it  yet  leaves  the  mass  free 
to  operate  in  all  the  various  modes  open  to  them,  and  for 
which  special  gifts  and  graces  may  give  them  a  peculiar 
fitness.  It  is  no  more  essential  to  the  development  of  the 
energy  and  life  and  greatest  efficiency  of  a  Church,  that 
all  its  members  should  act  as  elders  and  governors,  than 
that  they  should  all  be  pastors  and  deacons;  and  the  same 
argument  which  would  commit  the  discipline  of  God's 
house  to  the  entire  body  of  the  people,  in  order  to  oblige 
them  to  labor  and  increase  their  efficiency,  and  deepen 
their  interest  in  the  Church  and  its  operations,  would 
abolish  the  ministry  of  the  deacon  and  the  pastor,  and  so 
constitute  the  Church  a  body  without  limbs  and  executive 
powers.  Aside  from  the  work  properly  belonging  to  these 
officers,  there  is  a  wide  field  for  individual  action  in  the 
social  meetings,  in  Sabbath  schools  and  Bible  classes,  in 
direct  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  men,  in  the  visiting  of 
the  distressed  and  the  sick,  and  in  all  the  various  ways  in 
which  an  active  piety  will  seek  to  walk.  The  committing 
of  the  discipline  of  the  Church  to  a  board  of  elders  is  a 
great  relief  to  the  body  of  the  Church  from  a  business 
little  adapted  to  promote  their  spirituality,  and  which,  by 


45 

absorbing  their  time,  diverts  the  mind  and  heart  from  other 
labors  more  directly  connected  with  the  upbuilding  of  the 
kingdom  of  Jesus.  And  thus  they  are  left  free  to  enter  into 
the  harvest  as  reapers,  and  stimulated  to  fill  up  their 
measure  of  labor  for  the  ingathering  of  souls.  There  is  in 
this  our  system  as  much  of  stimulus  to  individual  labor, 
as  much  throwing  the  burden  of  responsibility  for  the  on- 
ward progress  of  religion  upon  the  entire  membership,  as 
wide  an  opening  for  such  action  as  is  best  adapted  to  pro- 
mote the  spirituality  of  the  Church  and  the  salvation  of 
men,  as  in  any  other  known  ecclesiastical  constitution. 
All  Churches,  whatever  be  their  general  system  of  opera- 
tion, are  found  practically  to  depend  much,  for  their 
efficiency,  upon  the  character  of  the  pastor  and  other  of- 
ficers; but,  setting  aside  this  great  element  of  power,  we 
have  yet  to  find  the  system  that,  as  a  system,  combines 
more  elements  of  real  efficiency  and  power  of  orderly  de- 
velopment, and  liberty  of  profitable  action  and  tendencies 
to  build  up  the  people  in  an  intelligent,  progressive  piety, 
than  our  own. 

Methodism  owes  its  power,  as  a  system,  to  its  popular 
worship,  free  to  the  extremest  license,  and  the  stern  discipline 
of  its  ministry — the  principles  of  freedom  and  of  despo- 
tism, both  in  excess,  yet  combining  so  as  in  a  measure  to 
balance  each  other.  John  Wesley  was  the  most  wonderful 
master  of  ecclesiastical  strategy,  Loyola  not  excepted,  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  Confessedly,  his  was  not  the  strategy 
of  that  elder  John  whom  the  Lord  so  loved.  Yet,  with  all 
its  antagonistic  ultraisms,  and  its  commingling  of  oppo- 
sites,  I  rejoice  in  the  work  which  it  has  accomplished;  and 
while  I  cannot  regard  it  as  the  system  which  best  suits 
the  highest  state  of  the  Church,  or  which  is  best  adapted 


46 

to  build  up  the  people  in  the  intelligent  understanding  of 
God's  word,  and  lift  ihem  to  the  noblest  position  in  social 
life,  I  yet  see  before  it  a  great  work,  and  bid  it  God  speed 
in  its  accomplishment.  The  prelatical  and  liturgical 
Churches  owe  their  power,  so  far  as  the  outward  form  is 
concerned,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  fiction  of  antiquity  and 
official  holiness,  and  apostolical  authority ;  on  the  other, 
to  their  missals  and  liturgies,  beautiful  as  mere  works  of 
art, but  not  full  of  the  highest  power  to  unfold  the  Christian 
life  and  promote  the  spiritual  efficiency  or  the  membership; 
the  products  not  of  apostolic  simplicity,  and  spontaneous, 
deep-breathing,  soul-subduing  Christianity,  in  the  fullness 
and  life  of  its  youth,  but  confessedly  created,  in  the  main, 
by  those  ages  when  art  reared  cathedrals,  and  the  Gregory's 
developed  the  science  o£  music — when  the  liturgy,  and 
the  choir,  and  the  cathedral,  and  the  mass,  and  the  elaborate 
and  gorgeous  ritual  all  had  their  grand  development.  But 
our  efficiency  is  not  of  these  elements ;  it  is  not  of  these 
outward  and  elaborate  works  of  art ;  nor  do  we  believe 
that,  under  such  systems,  the  Church  of  Christ  can  ever 
attain  its  highest  efficiency  or  its  finest  development. 
With  us  there  is  a  simple  worship,  designed  to  train  the 
soul  to  a  close  walk  with  God,  and  give  it  the  power  of 
spiritual  communion;  an  order  of  offices  and  arrangement 
of  duties  that ,  spring  from  the  elements  of  freedom,  yet 
form  the  best  guard  against  its  excess,  and  open  the  largest 
field  for  individual  labor ;  an  intelligent  ministry,  selected, 
not  to  serve  tables,  but  to  preach  the  Gospel  as  its  chief 
Work  :  these  are  the  elements  of  our  ecclesiastical  system. 
We  rely  most  upon  the  faithful,  intelligent  preaching  of 
the.  Gospel;  we  rear  a  platform  where  the  most  intelligent 
may  meet  with  the  humblest  and  most  illiterate — where 


47 

the  learned  shall  find  that  which  will  purify  and  refine  his 
spirit,  the  unlearned  that  which  will  elevate  him  to  the 
same  position.  We  seek,  in  all  the  arrangements  of  God's 
house,  to  level  upward;  to  make  all  our  children  both  sin- 
cere and  clear-minded  Christians,  thoroughly  instructed  in 
the  faith ;  to  make  all  men  feel  their  true  nobility,  their 
true  liberty,  the  heirship  to  which  they  may  attain  on 
earth,  and  the  inheritance  to  which  they  may  attain  in 
heaven.  We  claim  not  for  the  discipline  of  our  Church  an 
energy  that  will  render  its  professors  superior  to  all  the 
infirmities  of  the  age  in  which  they  may  live  j  it  is  not 
the  prerogative  of  any  mere  system  to  do  this.  But  we 
do  claim  for  it  an  adaptation  to  the  most  advanced  state  of 
society,  and  a  fitness  for  elevating  man  and  spreading 
abroad  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  equal,  to  say  the  least,  to  any 
form  of  Church  government  the  world  has  yet  seen.  Its 
labors  for  the  good  of  man  stand  forth;  and  its  victories  in 
behalf  of  all  that  is  good  have  sounded  abroad  over  the 
earth.  Behold  what  presbytery  hath  done  for  the  world  I 
What  battles  she  hath  fought  for  liberty  of  conscience  1 
for  Christianity  against  a  rampant  infidelity  1  for  truth 
against  the  combined  forces  of  error  1  for  order  againbt  the 
tumultuous  impulses  of  popular  passion  I  for  the  crown 
and  cause  of  Christ  against  the  world  \  Let  her  sons  under- 
stand their  position,  their  privilege,  and  their  power ;  let 
them  avail  themselves  of  all  the  advantages  which  so  ad- 
mirable a  system  has  placed  within  their  reach ;  let  them 
realize  the  strength  of  their  organization,  and  its  noble 
tendencies-  towards  a  steady  progress,  and  its  varied  capac- 
ity of  adaptation  to  all  states  of  society ;  let  them  see  m 
it  a  mighty  bulwark  for  the  Christian  faith,  resisting,  on 
the  one  side,  the  shock  of  a  wild  and  stormy  Indepen- 


48 

dency,  that  in  its  licentiousness  would  open  wide  all  the 
doors  of  error ;  and  on  the  other,  the  marshaled  and  trained 
array  of  a  Papal  despotism,  that  would  cover  the  earth 
with  ignorance  and  spiritual  bondage ;  let  them  look  to 
it,  not  as  in  itself  powerful,  but  as  that  which  allows  and 
enables  them  to  put  forth  the  highest  degree  of  power  in 
the  service  of  their  glorious  Lord ;  let  them  heed  not  the 
false  prophets  and  evil  diviners  who  cry,  Lo,  here  !  lo, 
there !  but  studying  more  deeply  the  simplicity  and  free- 
dom of  their  ecclesiastical  constitution,  let  them  give  to 
its  development,  in  the  increase  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
that  energy  of  heart  and  mind,  which  the  condition  of  our 
land  and  our  position  among  the  other  evangelical  Churches 
imperatively  require.  Then  shall  we  see  results  most  hal- 
lowed and  noble  attending  our  ministry,  and  our  beloved 
Church  shall  hold  the  foremost  position  among  the  hosts 
of  the  Lord,  and  lead  the  van  in  the  assault  upon  the  king- 
dom of  darkness ;  and  to  her  shall  be  gathered  the  fervor 
of  humble  piety,  the  might  of  a  thoroughly  educated 
membership,  the  refinement  of  a  noble  literature,  the 
spirituality  of  a  simple4iearted  faith  in  the  Redeemer ; 
and  millions,  in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  shall  look  up  to  her 
with  affection,  and  rejoice  in  her  as  the  mother  of  bless- 
ings, rich  as  heaven,  and  lasting  as  eternity,  * 

*  The  progress  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country  has  been 
great,  and  the  work  it  has  accomplished  in  behalf  of  liberty,  of  educa- 
tion, and  all  the  elements  of  a  Christian  civilization,  has  been  greater 
even  than  its  success  in  the  acquisition  of  numbers.  Beginning  late, 
in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  with  all  the  South  and  West  oponing 
before  it,  assisted,  in  part,  by  devoted  men  from  New  England,  it  has 
spread  abroad  through  the  Union,  gathering  into  its  congregations  a 
mass  of  intelligent  and  stable  piety,  maintaining  everywhere  the  char- 
meter  of  the  ministry  for  sound  learning  and  simple  hearted  religion, 


49 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  remark  upon  these  princi* 
pies  in  connection  with  two  large  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians, to  whom  we  are  most  intimately  related;  the  ortho* 
dox  Congregationalists,  and  the  brethren  who,  in  1837 
and  1838,  forsook  the  original  platform  of  our  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  and  organized  themselves  on  a  new  founda- 
tion. I  wish  to  say  here  that  we  do  not  confound  the 
orderly  and  semi-presbyterial  Congregationalism,  of  New 
England,  with  Independency.  Independency,  east  and 
west,  is  one  of  the  refuges  of  error  and  a  worldly  policy, 
Whoever  would  break  away  from  wholesome  restraint — 
whoever  would  undermine  the  holy  truths  of  Christianity, 
and  find  a  religion  that  shall  allow  him  the  utmost  license 
of  opinion  and  practice,  generally  flies  to  Independency.* 

holding  in  check  the  opposite  tendencies  to  radicalism  and  perpetual 
stagnation  of  Methodism  and  prelacy,  thus  rendering  them  both  more 
efficient  in  evangalizing  men,  building  up  colleges,  and  academies,  and 
schools  with  a  strong  hand,  leading  the  way  in  all  genuine  reforms, 
without  loosening  itself  from  those  great  principles  which,  although 
old,  are  yet  true,  and  essential  to  the  final  success  of  all  just  changes ; 
and  so  presenting  itself  in  harmony  with  American  republicanism,  as 
more  than  any  other  identified  with  American  institutions,  and  a  fair 
representative  of  the  best  elements  of  American  character. 

*  It  would  be  curious  to  trace  out  the  affinities  of  error  and  worldli- 
ness  with  ecclesiastical  systems.  With  which  system  of  the  three, 
presbytery,  prelacy,  or  independency,  does  error  most  readily  coalesce? 
We  apprehend  it  will  be  found  with  independency  and  prelacy.  Uni- 
tarianism  is  independent ;  Universalism  is  independent;  Rationalism, 
as  soon  as  it  reaches  this  country,  beyond  the  connection  of  Church  and 
State,  is  independent;  Christlanism  is  independent;  Campbellism  is 
independent ;  .Oberlinism  is  independent.  Presbyterianism  in  England, 
and  the  little  there  was  in  Boston,  first  became  independent  before  it 
went  over  to  Socinianism.  See  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia,  page  250. 

On  the  other  hand,  that  large  class,  who,  in  religion,  would  have  their 
thinking  done  for  them,  who  desire  repose  from  the  stirring  conflict  of 
thought  and  speech,  who  mistake  sect  for  Christianity,  and  form  for 

4 


.      50 

lJut  orthodox  Congregationalism,  so  far  from  sympathising 
with  such  things  in  spirit,  and  illustrating  them  in  prac- 
tice, resorts,  generally,  to  the  very  principles  of  our  eccle- 
siastical government  in  the  conduct  of  much  of  her  dis- 
cipline. Who  preach  the  gospel  to  them?  Not  any  man 
whom  the  spirit  may  seem  to  move,  but  chosen  ministers 
of  Christ.  Who  ordains  their  clergy?  Not  the  individual 
Church,  however  intelligent  and  influential  it  may  be,  but 
in  general,  either  the  associated  pastors,  or  these  in 
connection  with  the  delegates  from  the  Churches  chosen 
to  act  as  a  kind  of  presbytery  for  this  specific  purpose- 
Who  administer  the  temporalities?  Deacons.  Who  dej 
cide  controversies  between  Churches— between  pastors 
and  Churches — between  opposing  parties  in  a  Church?  A 
council  of  ministers,  or  of  ministers  and  delegates  from 
the  Churches.  Who  decide  theological  disputes?  Pasto- 
ral associations,  or  that  disguised  presbytery,  a  Consocia- 
tion. How  is  discipline,  in  difficult  cases,  conducted?  By 
Committees  appointed  to  do,  in  part,  the  work  of  a  session. 
In  these  things  the  principles  of  presbytery  are  more  or 
less  acted  on — -loosely  it  is  true,  yet  really.*  And  when- 

substance,  and  would  gain  heaven  by  outward  compliances  and  rules ; 
these  most  naturally  surrender  themselves  to  the  theatrical  pomp  and 
dignity  of  Puseyism  and  the  Papacy. 

*  If  it  be  said  that,  while  this  is  true,  the  theoretic  independency  of 
each  Church  is  maintained,  that  all  this  comes  in  the  shape  of  advice, 
and  that  the  Churches  are  at  liberty  to  receive  or  reject  it,  then  it  may 
be  asked,  in  turn,  what  is  the  worth  of  a  theoretic  independency,  when, 
in  point  of  fact,  there  is  no  practical  independency?  The  union  of 
Churches  in  this  land  is  voluntary,  and  so  any  Church  can,  if  it  chooses, 
separate  itself  from  the  ecclesiastical  body  with  which  it  is  connected. 
Presbyterians  recognize  the  fact  that  a  single  organization  may  be  a 
Church,  and  is  one  as  truly  before,  as  after  it  unites  with  presbytery. — : 
the  theory  amounts  to  nothing,  while  the  practice  is  to  so  great  an 


ever  it  fails  to  recognize  and  act  upon  them,  it  shows 
signs  of  weakness.  It  is  only  through,  at  least,  a  partial 
recognition  of  them,  that  error  is  shut  out,  and  discipline 
perfected*  Presbyterianism  takes  these  principles  and 
systematizes  them ;  it  corrects  the  irregularity,  while  it 
leaves  the  great  principles  of  true  Church  liberty  unim- 
paired- It  was  for  this  reason  President  Edwards,  in 
1750,  when  corresponding  with  President  Davies  respect- 
ing his  admission  into  the  Presbyterian  Church,  could 
write  thus,  "As  to  my  subscribing  to  the  substance  of  the 
Westminster  Confession,  there  will  be  no  difficulty;  and 
as  to  the  Presbyterian  government,  I  have  long  been  per- 
fectly out  of  conceit  of  our  unsettled,  independent,  con- 
fused way  of  Church  government  in  this  land ;  the 
Presbyterian  way  has  ever  appeared  to  me  most  agreeable 
to  the  word  of  God,  and  the  reason  and  nature  of  things."* 
It  is  for  this  reason  that,  from  the  beginning,  the  ministers 
and  the  people  of  New  England  have  so  readily  united  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  found  in  it  a  genial  home. 
They  find  the  same  great  principles  of  orthodoxy  in  doc- 
trine, simplicity  in  worship,  and  liberty  in  government, 
which  characterize  their  own  Churches  ;  while  they  find, 
also,  a  general  order  and  system  much  the  same,  but 


extent  inconsistent  with  it.  To  our  minds,  the  efficiency  of  our  Con- 
gregational brethren  is  due  to  their  practical  approximation  to  presby- 
tery, far  more  than  to  independency.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  in  Con- 
necticut, where  the  presbyterial  element  in  their  discipline  has  been 
strongest,  Unitarianism  gained  but  a  single  Church  in  a  quarter  of  a 
century;  while,  in  Massachusetts,  where  what  President  Edwards  called 
a  "  confused,  unsettled,  independent  way  of  Church  government"  pre- 
vailed, orthodoxy  lost  her  ancient  university  and  hundreds  of  her  largest 
and  finest  Churches. 

*  Footc's  Sketches  of  Virginia,  page  220. 


wrought  out  into  a  more  settled  and  perfect  constitution. 
All  that  is  most  precious  in  the  old  is  here  preserved  ; 
while  that  which  is  loose,  unsettled,  and  weak,  is  here  cor- 
rected. In  point  of  fact,  the  Congregationalism  of  most 
of  New  England  grew  up  as  the  joint  product  of  presby- 
tery and  independency.  The  first  Church  at  Plymouth 
was,  in  part,  Presbyterian,  and  the  two  platforms  of  Say- 
brook  and  Cambridge  fully  recognize  the  Presbyterian 
element  in  their  Churches.  Why,  then,  may  we  not  walk 
together  in  harmony  as  we  have  ever  done,  since  the  foun- 
dation of  our  nation,  each  co-operating  to  spread  the  light 
and  hasten  the  glory  of  the  millennial  morn.  Side  by 
side,  intermingled  and  passing  from  one  to  the  other,  we 
have  so  grown  up  as  to  be  recognized  by  the  world  as 
one  grand  army,  supporting  the  same  great  principles,  and 
upholding  the  same  institutions,  and  sending  forth  a  uni- 
ted influence  in  moulding  the  hearts  of  men.  The  noblest 
spirits  of  New  England  are  surely  with  us  ;  though  there 
be  those  who  would  raise  the  banner  of  a  narrow  sectar- 
ism,  and  heeding  not  the  peace  of  our  Churches,  or  the 
feebleness  of  divided  forces,  would  create  division  and  dis- 
cord, and  bitterness,  where  hitherto  there  has  been  union, 
and  quietness,  and  love ;  yet  we  should  do  injustice  to  the 
vast  body  of  noble-minded  Christians  in  that  favored  sec- 
tion of  our  country,  were  we  to  suppose  that  they  could 
sympathise  with  a  warfare  so  unhallowed  and  fruitless  of 
good.  For  New  England  we  have  suffered  much;  for  her 
we  stand  separate  from  our  ancient  connections  ;  and  she 
would  prove  recreant  to  the  claims  of  gratitude,  and  apos- 
tate from  the  principles  of  liberty,  and  deserving  of  the 
scorn  of  all  the  true-hearted,  if,  without  reason,  she  stand 
not  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  us  in  the  mighty  work 


of  evangelizing  a  new   continent,  and  working  out  the 
world's  redemption. 

In  this  land  we  once  had  a  united  Presbyterian  Church ; 
it  is  united  no  longer.  Divided  into  two  nearly  equal 
parts,  we  stand  before  the  public,  and  we  are,  in  fact,  two 
distinct  denominations.  Yet  there  are  scores  of  thousands 
of  hearts  on  both  sides  which  beat  in  unison.  What  con- 
stitutes the  difference  ?  It  is  not  in  our  confessions  of 
faith  and  terms  of  communion  ;  they  are  identically  the 
same.  It  is  not  in  our  forms  of  government  and  manner 
of  Church  discipline  ;  they  are  one.  It  is  not  that  either 
side  have  abandoned  the  great  platform  of  faith,  in  fact, 
though  not  in  form ;  and  that  these  differences  of  opinion 
have  been  created  incompatible  with  a  harmonious  walk 
as  members  of  the  same  denomination.  That  there  are 
men  in  both  divisions  of  the  Church  who  differ  in  the 
mode  of  reasoning  upon  the  great  facts  that  compose  the 
system  of  Paul  and  Calvin ;  who,  while  they  firmly  hold 
the  facts  themselves,  and  embrace  the  system  with  the 
deepest  convictions  of  its  truth,  yet  differ  somewhat  in 
their  conceptions  of  two  or  three  points  of  the  philosophy, 
in  accordance  with  which  these  facts  find  their  fullest  ex- 
planation, is  undoubtedly  true.  But  that  such  differences 
are  inconsistent  either  with  true  Presbyterianism,  or  the 
uniform  practice  of  our  Church  from  its  origin,  is  entirely 
a  novel  and  a  false  idea.  In  point  of  fact,  precisely  the 
same  differences  exist  in  both  branches  of  the  Church  at 
this  very  hour.  While  men  remain  imperfect,  and  the 
principles  of  a  just  toleration  characterize  us,  this  will  al- 
ways be  the  case.  It  has  been  the  glory  of  our  denomi- 
nation in  this  land,  that  it  has  stood  upon  this  broad  plat- 
form. Such  a  liberty  is  recognized  in  the  very  terms  of 


subscription  to  the  Confession,  and  has  ever  been  accorded 
to  its  ministry  and  eldership.*  If  any  persons  choose  to 
abandon  this  ground,  and  compel  their  brethren  to  pro- 
nounce the  "  shibboleth"  with  precisely  their  aspiration 
and  their  emphasis,  then  do  they  abandon  the  principles 
and  practice  of  our  Church  from  its  origin  ;  if  they  seek 
from  others  not  only  a  firm  persuasion  of  the  truth  of  this 
system  of  doctrine,  and  an  honest  unfolding  of  it,  but, 
in  addition  thereto,  a  strict  conformity  to  their  mode  of 
stating  and  explaining  all  its  recondite  relations,  an  unfal- 
tering reception  of  their  metaphysics  and  their  logic,  then 
do  they  arrogate  to  themselves  an  authority  Presbyterians 
have  never  acknowledged,  and  commend  to  us  a  practice 
in  harmony  with  Popery,  but  utterly  foreign  to  the  free- 
dom of  thought  and  diversity  of  views  which  have  char- 

O  \i 

*  See  the  second  question  put  to  elders  and  ministers  at  their  ordina- 
tion. Do  you  receive  *  *  *  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine,  etc. 
President  Davies,  in  his  address  1o  Messrs.  Patillo  and  Richardson,  at 
their  ordination,  in  1758,  puts  the  question  to  them  thus,  "  Do  you 
receive  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  as  the  confession  of  your 
faith ;  that  is,  do  you  believe  it  contains  an  excellent  summary  of  the 
pure  doctrines  of  Christianity,  as  taught  in  the  Scriptures,  and  as  purged 
from  the  corruptions  of  Popery  and  other  errors  that  have  crept  into 
the  Church ;  and  do  you  purpose  to  explain  the  Scriptures  agreeably  to 
the  substance  of  it?" — Works,  vol.  3,  page  389. 

To  the  same  effect  he  says,  in  his  Diary,  '•' We  allowed  the  candidate 
to  mention  his  objections  against  any  article  in  the  Confession,  and  the 
judicature  judged  whether  the  articles  objected  against  were  essential 
to  Christianity;  and  if  they  judged  they  were  not,  they  would  admit 
the  candidate,  notwithstanding  his  objections." — Foote's  Sketches  of 
Virginia,  page  257.  The  writer  has  frequently  heard  his  former  in- 
structor—now translated  to  his  rest — the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller,  express  the 
same  sentiments,  and  he  is  sure  that  this  has  ever  been  the  prevailing 
opinion  of  many  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  Church.  Such  was 
the  well  guarded  liberty  of  the  founders  of  our  Church  in  this  land — a 
liberty  equally  free  from  licentiousness  and  bigotry, 


55 

acterized  our  Church  from  its  first  organization  on  Ameri- 
can soil.  Such  are  not  the  narrow  views  and  contracted 
principles  of  the  immense  majority  of  these  two  bodies ; 
and  it  is  not  on  this  point  that  this  division  rests.  The 
difference  between  us  springs  from  another  source,  and  has 
reference  to  a  principle  vital  to  the  integrity  of  our  con- 
stitution. This  separation  has  arisen  from  the  abandon- 
ment, by  those  who  have  gone  out  from  us,  of  the  second 
great  principle  of  constitutional  freedom — THE  EIGHT  OF  A 
FREE  AND  FAIR  TRIAL.  This  principle  which,  as  much  as 
any  other  one,  gives  our  Church  its  character,  and  insures 
within  it  the  rights  and  liberties  of  its  members,  has  been 
struck  at  in  a  manner  the  most  open,  and  with  a  force 
that  has  sent  the  sound  of  it  abroad  through  the  land. 
When,  by  a  mere  resolution,  without  the  form  of  trial, 
without  the  tabling  of  charges,  without  opportunity  of  ap- 
peal or  defense,  a  small  majority  in  the  assembly  of  1837, 
declared  four  synods,  five  hundred  ministers,  and  sixty 
thousand  communicants  no  longer  members  of  the  Church 
they  loved,  and  in  which  thousands  of  them  had  been 
born,  and  in  connection  with  whose  ministrations  their 
locks  had  blossomed  for  the  grave  ;  when  this  act  of  ec- 
clesiastical injustice  was  the  next  year  re-enacted  and 
approved,  and  all  who  would  not  give  in  their  adherence  to 
this  new  test  of  Presbyterianism,  in  like  manner  summarily 
cast  out  of  their  communion ;  then,  so  far  as  any  act  of  a 
majority,  in  an  ecclesiastical  court,  could  effect  it,  one  of 
the  abutments  of  our  system  was  undermined  and  thrown 
down.  The  body  enacting,  and  the  Churches  adhering  to, 
an  act  so  revolutionary,  effect  a  fundamental  change  in  the 
constitution  of  the  Church.  For,  however  express  the 
language  of  that  constitution  may  be  in  opposition,  yet  it 


is  among  the  commonest  experiences  of  the  past  that  an 
unrebuked  practice  of  wrong,  in  high  places,  will  soon  es- 
tablish a  precedent  for  the  same  practice  in  low  places ; 
that  if  the  assembly  can  disregard  the  constitution  by 
which  it  is  created,  and  from  which  it  receives  all  its  au- 
thority— if  it  may  assume  a  power  never  delegated  to  it 
and  trample  upon  the  rights  of  inferior  judicatories,  with- 
out rebuke,  and  with  the  silent  acquiescence  of  a  ma- 
jority of  the  Churches — if  the  wrong  be  not  met  and 
resisted  at  the  outset,  the  precedent  supersedes  the  consti- 
tution, and  that,  at  length,  conies  to  be  regarded  as  com- 
mon law,  which  is  utterly  opposed  to  well-defined  statute 
law.  Nor  does  the  result  of  this  unconstitutional  assump- 
tion confine  itself  to  the  body  in  which  it  originated ;  that 
which  is  right  in  the  higher,  acquires  the  force  of  law  in 
the  lower ;  that  which  is  dictated  by  the  wisdom  of  an 
august  assembly,  becomes  an  authority  for  the  less  wise 
and  august  synod ;  and  that  which  is  constituted  law  by 
their  approbation,  easily  passes  down  to  the  presbytery 
and  Church  session,  until  the  right  of  legislating  ministers 
and  members  out  of  the  Church,  by  the  resolution  of  a 
bare  majority,  not  only  without  trial,  but  in  direct  oppo- 
sition to  a  written  and  known  constitution,  becomes  a 
settled  rule,  of  which  the  factious  and  ambitious  may  avail 
themselves  to  attain  that  which  they  never  could  attain 
by  the  legitimate  working  of  the  constitution  itself.  The 
man  who  has  read  the  history  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
world  with  the  least  attention,  knows  that  it  is  from  such 
assumptions,  unchallenged  and  unrebuked,  or  but  feebly 
resisted,  that  the  fearful  apostacy  of  the  Papacy  took  its 
rise — that  constitutional  liberty,  whether  in  the  state  or 
in  the  Church,  has  no  enemy  more  deadly  than  the  as- 


67 

sumed  plea  of  some  pressing  danger  to  be  avoided,  or  some 
immediate  advantage  to  be  gained,  by  a  violation  of  the 
written  law,  the  expressed  will  of  the  people,  the  funda- 
mental compact  which  binds  the  parts  together.  Once 
admit  that  to  avoid  such  danger,  or  gain  such  advantage, 
the  constitution  may  be  set  aside,  and  its  most  fundamental 
principles  violated,  and  at  once  such  dangers  will  seem  to 
arise,  and  such  advantages  will  present  themselves,  not 
only  to  the  eyes  of  overheated  controversialists,  and 
earnest  partizans,  and  men  ambitious  of  power,  but  the 
more  spiritual,  who  are  impatient  of  the  slow  methods  of 
discipline  and  purification  prescribed  in  the  constitution 
and  the  word  of  God.  On  this  subject  we  will  trust  no 
man's  goodness  or  amiability  to  secure  our  liberties ;  we 
will  trust  alone  to  a  just  and  fair  construction  of  the  form 
of  our  government,  and  the  visible  attempt  to  carry  it 
into  execution.* 

Against  this  revolutionary  movement  of  the  assembly 

of  1837  we  took  our  stand  in  1838.  In  opposition  to 
this  nullification  of  the  organic  law  of  our  Church  union 
we  formed  the  assembly  of  1838  on  the  basis  of  an  un- 
broken constitution.  We  protest  against  this  invasion  of 
our  liberty ;  we  are  resolved  to  acquiesce  in  no  such  as- 
sumption of  power ;  we  mean  to  maintain  a  pure,  consti- 
tutional Presbyterianism,  whoever  may  forsake  this  noble 
platform  for  the  despotic  principles  of  ecclesiastical  op- 
pression. Our  Church  stands  as  the  full  representation  of 
an  unbroken  Presbyterianism.  We  cherish  the  kindest  of 

*lt  is  among  the  most  surprising  inconsistencies  of  our  nature,  that 
the  very  men  who  would  prosecute  Mr.  Barnes  and  Dr.  Beecher,  for  an 
alleged  failure  to  conform  to  a  fair  construction  of  the  confession  of 
failh,  should  themselves  abandon  the  form  of  government,  and  in  vio- 
lation of  one  of  its  leading  principles,  cast  churches,  presbyteries,  and 
synods,  by  resolution,  out  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


58 

feelings  towards  those  who,  under  the  plausible  manage- 
ment of  the  few,  have  been  persuaded  not  to  express  the 
indignation  which  they  felt,  and  the  convictions  which 
they  still  possess,  of  the  utter  wrong  of  these  acts  which 
have  divided  the  Church.  *  To  hundreds  of  the  faithful 
men,  whom,  from  childhood,  some  of  us  have  been  taught 
to  reverence  as  fathers  or  love  as  brethren,  our  hearts  are 
knit  in  a  still  unweakened  affection.  They  have  erred  in 
judgment ;  they  should  have  risen  with  us  in  their  might, 

*  It  is  a  well-known  fact,  that  a  large  number  of  those  now  in  con- 
nection with  the  New  Basis  Assembly,  regard  the  cutting  off  of  the 
synods  as  illegal  and  wrong.  Why,  then,  did  they  not  at  once  see  that 
this  wrong  was  righted?  Minds  indifferent  sections  were  differently 
affected.  With  some,  the  idea  that  the  excinded  synods  contained  the 
majority  of  the  Abolitionists,  and  that  their  absence  secured  a  majority 
for  the  South,  had  great  weight.  The  three  leading  men  in  doing  this 
work  were  Drs.  Robt.  Breckenridge,  Plumer,  and  Baxter — all  Southern 
men,  and  part,  if  not  all,  slaveholders.  Slavery  had  more  to  do  in  the 
final  act  than  all  other  causes  put  together.  With  others,  the  slander- 
ous reports  of  heresy,  as  existing  in  those  synods  to  an  alarming  extent, 
which — though  disproved  on  the  floor  of  the  assembly,  were  then,  and 
have  been  since  assiduously  repeated  and  spread  abroad — possessed 
many  minds,  and  lead  them  to  acquiesce  in  the  act  after  it  was  passed, 
as  perhaps  the  only  way  of  purifying  the  Church.  In  several  other 
cases  the  desire  to  obtain  a  permanent  majority  in  favor  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical boards,  influenced  them  to  permit  the  outrage,  or  made  them 
lukewarm  in  opposing  it.  Among  some,  the  fear  that  Princeton  was 
in  danger— that  it  was  contemplated  to  remove  the  venerable  professors 
— a  most  unfounded  apprehension,  and  indignantly  repelled  by  those 
charged  with  it — operated  to  keep  them  quiet.  Others  indulged  the 
hope  of  a  speedy  reunion,  and  that,  as  the  thing  was  done,  it  was  bet- 
ter to  wait  the  developments  of  Providence,  than  to  stand  up  against 
it.  Others  have  labored  under  a  false  impression  respecting  the  legal- 
ity of  these  acts,  as  determined  by  the  civil  law.  Others  still,  have 
been  so  hemmed  in  by  those  who  approved  it,  as  to  acquiesce  in  the 
present  state  of  things,  hoping  the  best  for  the  future.  Had  all  those 
whose  convictions  were  with  us,  manifested  their  convictions  in 
acting  with  us,  how  different  would  have  been  the  result !  To  their 
own  Master  they  must  account  for  their  neglect. 


at  the  first,,  and  righted  this  wrong,  and  branded  with  the 
infamy  it  deserves  the  atrocious  acts  by  which  it  was 
sought  to  cast  their  brethren,  unheard  and  untried  from 
our  communion.    But  the  act  is  done ;  and  while  we  can 
not  recognize  them  as  men  in  this  matter  true  to  the  con- 
stitution they  have  vowed  to  maintain,  we  yet  pray  that 
God  will  overrule  the  wrong  for  their  and  our  greater 
efficiency,  in  building  up  the  cause  of  the  dear  Redeemer, 
and  the  spreading  abroad,  in  its  purity,  that  noble  consti- 
tution of  Church  government,  under  which  we  enjoy  a 
liberty  and  a  power  of  development,  not  surpassed  in  any 
other  religious  or  civil  community ;  that,  warned  by  the 
past,  they  may  see  to  it  that  under  no  future  plea  of  ne- 
cessity, shall  another  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  Churches 
be  allowed.    And  we  can  not  but  hope  that,  when  the  few 
unhappy  authors  of  this  work  of  division  shall  have  passed 
away,  the  real  piety,  and  Christian  manliness,  and  true 
attachment  to  the  principles  of  presbytery,  which  exist  in 
the  .great  body  of  these  brethren,  will  reveal  themselves 
in  a  vigorous  assertion  of  the  great  principles,  now  for 
thirteen  years  trodden  under  foot ;  nor  can  we  doubt  but 
that  the  time  is  hastening  on,  when  those  who  would  fain 
have  thrust  Joseph  into  the  pit  and  then  sold  him  into 
Egypt)  will  exclaim,  "  We  are  vefily  guilty  concerning  our 
brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul,  when  he  be- 
sought uSy  and  we  would  not  hear;"  then  will  that  Joseph, 
his  adversity  past,  extend  to  them  the  forgiveness  of  a 
Christian,  and  the  warm  embrace  of  a  brother's  love.* 

*  It  may  yet  be  seen  by  those  now  separated  from  us,  that  to  us  they 
<owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  position  which  we  have  taken  in  seeking 
to  bring  them  back  to  the  original  platform  of  our  Presbyterian  Church. 
It  may  yet  be  seen  that  they  have  been  preserved  from  similar  acts  of 
excision  and  assumptions  of  power,  by  the  stand  of  liberty  which  we 


60 


Meanwhile,  my  brethren,  let  us  be  up  and  doing.  We 
have  before  us  a  vast  and  deeply  interesting  work — a> 
work  which  angels  might  covet,  and  in  which  we  should 
count  it  a  glorious  privilege  to  be  engaged.  We  have  a 
noble  ecclesiastical  constitution,  more  truly  expressive,  in 
my  opinion,  of  the  spirit  and  power  of  the  apostolic  dis* 
cipline,  than  that  of  any  of  our  sister  Churches.  We  have 
but  to  attend  to  our  own  field,  develop  our  own  resources, 
maintain  our  own  institutions,  avail  ourselves  of  the  in-. 
strumentalities  afforded  by  our  form  of  government,  culti" 
vate  true  piety,  labor  for  revivals  of  religion,  and  the  esr 
tablishment  of  the  people  in  the  truth;  and  then,  con-: 
fiding  in  the  gracious  sovereignty  of  our  God  to  shed  his 
benedictions  upon  us,  we  shall  go  forward,  and  our  Church 
will  accomplish  a  mission  of  vast  importance  to  our  coun- 
try and  the  world. 

have  taken ;  and  those  who,  to  gain  their  own  or  public  ends,  would 
violate  the  organic  law,  and  change  the  character  of  the  Church,  may 
understand  that  the  principles  of  presbytery  are  not  to  be  thus  easily 
set  aside. 


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